Health Tip: Pap Test for All Women?

The Pap test for cervical cancer has become a routine part of most women's annual checkups. But new guidelines issued by the American Cancer Society suggest that certain groups of women can safely forgo it:

• Women aged 70 or older who have had three or more normal Pap tests in a row and no abnormal Pap test results in the last 10 years may choose to stop having cervical cancer screening. Women with a history of cervical cancer, DES exposure before birth, HIV infection or a weakened immune system should continue to have screening as long as they are in good health.
• Women who have had a total hysterectomy (removal of the uterus and cervix) may also choose to stop having cervical cancer screening, unless the surgery was done as a treatment for cervical cancer or pre-cancer. Women who have had a hysterectomy without removal of the cervix should continue to follow the guidelines above.
• All women should begin cervical cancer screening about three years after they begin having vaginal intercourse, but no later than when they are 21 years old. Screening should be done every year with the regular Pap test or every two years using the newer liquid-based Pap test.
• Beginning at age 30, women who have had three normal Pap test results in a row may get screened every two to three years with either the conventional (regular) or liquid-based Pap test. Women who have certain risk factors such as diethylstilbestrol (DES) exposure before birth, HIV infection, or a weakened immune system due to organ transplant, chemotherapy, or chronic steroid use should continue to be screened annually.

Blood Breakthrough Might Improve Cancer Care

Boosting the supply of oxygen to tissues in need could help improve wound healing, lead to better blood substitutes, and even help with cancer treatments. Now a team of Duke University researchers believe they've found a safe way of doing just that.

Adding the compound nitric oxide to the blood's hemoglobin -- the component of blood that carries oxygen to cells -- can help hemoglobin deliver more oxygen to tissues without increasing heart rate or constricting blood vessels, the researchers say.

The study appears in the May 27 issue of the journal Circulation Research.

"Hemoglobin needs its natural partner in the blood, nitric oxide, to do its job of delivering oxygen to tissues, but current treatments deliver hemoglobin without nitric oxide," study leader Mark Dewhirst, professor of radiation oncology, said in a prepared statement.

"Hemoglobin by itself actually reduces oxygenation to tissue because it constricts blood vessels, reducing blood flow," Dewhirst explained.

That means when hemoglobin is delivered alone, it may cause potentially fatal side effects, reducing the effectiveness of radiation treatment and chemotherapy.

But tumors are often low in oxygen, which makes them more resistant to chemotherapy or radiation treatment, the researchers noted. A method that used hemoglobin to safely deliver oxygen to tumor tissues might improve treatment

In their studies with animals, the Duke team found that pure oxygen, breathed in naturally, increased the level of circulating oxygen but not oxygen levels in arteries feeding tumors. In contrast, hemoglobin containing nitric oxide raised oxygen levels in tumors.

More information

The U.S. National Library of Medicine has more about hemoglobin.