Re: abnormal pap
From: Harvey S. Marchbein, M.D. (anonymous@obgyn.net)
Tue, 2 May 2000 21:00:43 -0500 (CDT)
At Tue, 2 May 2000, Charles wrote:
>
>> >what does it mean when you have an abnormal pap smear but they find no
>> >cancer or precancer? What are the possible reasons for this?
>>
>> There can be changes seen that are indicative of inflammation, herpes,
>> trichomonas, yeast, HPV, and many other things. It helps to know what
>> was said on the report. They never say "Abnormal".
>>
>Today I was told that my pap smear came back abnormal.
Dr. Braun is right. A part of the report is missing. There is no such
result in the "Bethesda Reporting System" as abnormal. There's
atypical, ASCUS, inflammation, LoSIL, HiSIL etc but no abnormal.
Get the exact report and we'd be happy to enlighten you as to what it
really means. The alternative would be to talk to the doctor instead of
the nurse next time. No isrespect to the nurses but this one gave an
"incomplete picture" about the pap.
HSM
>The nurse said it
>could be due to just having had a baby or that I was bleeding a little when
>they did it, and to come back in six months for a recheck. My mom recently
>had a LEEP done because of precancerous cells and my sister died a week ago
>from cervical cancer that she never had treated because she lacked
>insurance.
>They told me they found no cancer or precancer, but you can understand why I
>am concerned. I've never had any STDs before, and am married and monogamous.
>I was tested for everything like that when I got pregnant too, including
>HIV. All negative.
>They did not seem overly concerned, however they did call me and tell me it
>was abnormal. I've never had any abnormalities in the past. I also had a pap
>done when I was pregnant, so it had only been about 6 months since I had one
>done, and it was normal. Is it common to have abnormal paps or inflammation
>after childbirth? (It was my six week checkup) Also, would it be common to
>have abnormal paps if one were still spotting somewhat(bleeding) ?
--
Harvey S. Marchbein, M.D. FACOG, FACS
Great Neck, New York
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