No Stirrups? Just Say So
Research shows position doesn't affect Pap test results
 (HealthDay News) -- For women, part of getting a Pap test has always included hoisting their legs into uncomfortable stirrups attached to the end of an examination table.
But recent research suggests that those stirrups really aren't necessary.
Results from Pap tests during which women kept their feet firmly planted on the table were just as accurate as those taken from women stuck in stirrups.
Women reported being more comfortable and feeling less vulnerable psychologically when they weren't in stirrups, the study reported. Its findings were published in the BMJ .
"There's about a 50 percent reduction in physical discomfort if women did not use the stirrups," the study's lead researcher, Dr. Dean Seehusen, a family physician at the Eisenhower Army Medical Center at Fort Gordon in Augusta, Ga., told HealthDay .
And if women are more physically and psychologically comfortable, Seehusen said, they might be more apt to get tested.
A Pap test, also known as a Pap smear, examines cervical cells to check for changes that could lead to cancer, according to the National Cancer Institute. To perform the test, a doctor must gently scrape the side of the cervix to collect cervical cells. Those cells are then smeared onto a glass slide.
The Cancer Institute recommends that women have a Pap test at least once every three years, starting about three years after they begin having sexual intercourse. Women should not have Pap tests done when they are menstruating, and they should avoid intercourse for a day or two before the test, the institute suggests.
Seehusen said he suspected that some women avoid having the test because the stirrups are uncomfortable and make the experience stressful.
"When your feet are in the stirrups, you cannot easily get out," he said.
The current study included almost 200 women older than 18 who had come to Seehusen's clinic for an annual pelvic exam. They were then assigned to have their Pap test either with stirrups or without.
After the exam, the women were asked to assess their physical and psychological comfort and were asked about their feelings of control.
The women reported feeling more comfortable and less vulnerable when not in stirrups, and Seehusen found that the quality and accuracy of the Pap tests were not affected by the different position.
"If a woman thinks she wants to try this method, she should ask her provider," he suggested.
That would be a reasonable request, agreed Dr. Celeste Robb-Nicholson, editor of the Harvard Women's Health Watch and an assistant professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School . "If a doctor can do without using the stirrups and you are more comfortable, by all means ask," she told HealthDay .
"If this alternative is offered, it could result in higher screening rates," she said.
On the Web
To learn more about Pap tests, visit the National Women's Health Information Center.
SOURCES:
HealthDay News ; Dean Seehusen, M.D., M.P.H., family physician, Eisenhower Army Medical Center, Fort Gordon, Augusta, Ga.; Celeste Robb-Nicholson, M.D., editor-in-chief, Harvard Women's Health Watch , and assistant professor of medicine, Harvard Medical School, Boston; July 22, 2006, BMJ ; National Cancer Institute (www.cancer.gov)
Author:
Serena Gordon
Publication Date:
July 31, 2008
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