Atypical Pap Smear

Women shouldn’t be very concerned by an atypical Pap smear until supplementary diagnostic tests are not performed. The primary objective of Pap smear test is to find cancerous cervical lesions, and, for this reason, some people believe an atypical Pap smear result means the presence of cervical cancer. However, atypical Pap smear may be due to different conditions, and it does not often indicate a severe disease.

Pap smear, special analysis of cervical cells, is an effective test to detect early abnormal changes in the cervical cells and to prevent cancer. This test is also able to reveal cellular changes in the cervical tissue that are not associated with cancer. Some cell changes occur under the influence of different viruses and bacteria. Exposure to some chemical agents, cervical injuries or irritation may also be the reason of an atypical Pap smear.

Relatively often an atypical Pap smear means the analysis showed the presence of cellular changes, but it is not clear which disease these changes are linked with. If that is the case, the diagnose is AGUS when undetermined atypia is observed in the cells of cervical canal, and ASCUS if atypical changes are detected in the cells from the cervical surface. When undetermined changes are detected, and, at the same time, the presence of dysplasia is not excluded the result of Pap smear is classified as ASCH.

Atypical Pap smear may result from the presence of precancerous changes on the cervix, and in this case the test may be classified as LGSIL or HGSIL. The result LGSIL indicates that the risk of cancer is low, and the lesions are very likely to regress. However, the risk of cancer increases if LGSIL does not regress within a long period, and then it is recommended to remove the present lesions through a surgery.

The risk of cervical cancer is great if the result of Pap smear is HGSIL. Nevertheless, there is still time to treat the disease and to prevent the cancer of the cervix. It should be noted that the treatment for HGSIL is more difficult than the treatment for LGSIL, and it is associated with a higher recurrence rate. Therefore, patients with an atypical Pap smear should follow all recommendations in order to prevent the development of high grade lesions.