Do women who have had total hysterectomies still need cervical cancer screenings?
Dr. Bevers: Some groups believe that a woman who has had a total hysterectomy can stop cervical cancer screening altogether, unless the hysterectomy was for cervical cancer or a precancerous condition. But we were concerned that this didn’t take into account the possibility of a woman’s risk factors changing over time. Certainly, we recognize that with women living longer, they may have new sexual partners later in life. These new partners create new opportunities for exposure to the human papillomavirus, the primary cause of cervical cancer. As doctors, we need to periodically reassess a woman’s risk factors—we can’t flatly and permanently say a particular woman will never need a Pap smear again. Therefore, to keep physicians in the equation, M. D. Anderson’s guidelines state that beginning at age 30 years, a physician and patient may choose to do Pap smears less frequently than once a year, depending on her risk factors, and assuming she has had three or more consecutive annual exams
