Pap post Hysterectomy?

A question frequently asked by patients post hysterectomy is "Do I still need to have a Pap test?"

Until recently the Nova Scotia Gynaecological Cancer Screening Program (NSGCSP) did not recommend exempting any women from annual screening. The NSGCSP now feels that the following recommendations can be implemented:

1. the woman no longer has a cervix (i.e. total hysterectomy) and
2. the hysterectomy was performed for a benign condition and, when reviewed pathologically, failed to identify evidence of HPV infection or any degree of dysplasia, and
3. all previous Pap smears have been normal

If no previous Pap smear record is available and/or no OR pathology is available, the patient should have two consecutive normal smears before being dropped from screening.

As in the past, individualization based upon risk continues to be at the discretion of the woman and her physician.

- John Hickey

This page last updated April 20, 1998