Your Annual Exam

When you first arrive, the nurse will get a check of your blood pressure, weight, pulse and often urine. Be prepared to give the nurse the date of your last period – this is the date of the first day of your last period. After an initial discussion with the nurse, your physician will come in and listen to your heart and lungs, check your breasts for any changes or lumps, palpitate your abdominal area for any irregularities, and perform a pelvic exam and Pap test.

The Pap test, also called a Pap smear, checks for changes in the cells of your cervix. The cervix is the lower part of the uterus (womb) that opens into the vagina (birth canal). The Pap test can tell if you have an infection, abnormal (unhealthy) cervical cells or cervical cancer.

A Pap test can save your life. It can find the earliest signs of cervical cancer. If caught early, the chance of curing cervical cancer is very high. Pap tests also can find infections and abnormal cervical cells that can turn into cancer cells. Treatment can prevent most cases of cervical cancer from developing.

Getting regular Pap tests is the best thing you can do to prevent cervical cancer. In fact, regular Pap tests have led to a major decline in the number of cervical cancer cases and deaths.

Your doctor can do a Pap test during a pelvic exam. During the exam, the physician will insert an instrument called a speculum into your vagina, opening it to see the cervix. She will then use a special device to take a few cells from inside and around the cervix. The cells are placed on a glass slide and sent to a lab for examination. While usually painless, a Pap test is uncomfortable for some women.

Usually it takes 3 weeks to get Pap test results. If the test shows something abnormal, your doctor will contact you to schedule more tests. There are many reasons for abnormal Pap test results. It usually does not mean you have cancer.

It is scary to hear that your Pap test results are "abnormal." But abnormal Pap test results usually do not mean you have cancer. Most often there is a small problem with the cervix.

Some abnormal cells will turn into cancer. But most of the time, these unhealthy cells will go away on their own. By treating these unhealthy cells, almost all cases of cervical cancer can be prevented. If you have abnormal results, to talk with your doctor about what they mean.

There are many reasons for "abnormal" Pap test results. If results of the Pap test are unclear or show a small change in the cells of the cervix, your doctor will probably repeat the Pap test. If the test finds more serious changes in the cells of the cervix, the doctor will suggest more powerful tests. Results of these tests will help your doctor decide on the best treatment. These include:

• Colposcopy: The doctor uses a tool called a colposcope to see the cells of the vagina and cervix in detail.
• Endocervical curettage: The doctor takes a sample of cells from the endocervical canal with a small spoon-shaped tool called a curette.
• Biopsy: The doctor removes a small sample of cervical tissue. The sample is sent to a lab to be studied under a microscope.