What is the difference between a pap smear and a colposcopy

How reliable is a colposcopy? Is a colposcope used during surgery? Is any preparation necessary before a colposcopy? What does the doctor see under the microscope when examining a biopsy and what are the possible diagnoses? What exactly is a colposcopic biopsy and how is it performed? What is a colposcope? What is the colposcopy used for?

What is the reliability of a biopsy taken during a colposcopy? When is a colposcopy recommended? What symptoms should I have in order to get tested? Pap test At what age should testing start and when should it stop?

Can a Pap test come out negative and miss a lesion? Can pregnant women be tested? How frequently should I get a Pap test? How is the Pap test performed? If the Pap test shows inflammation or atrophy, what happens next?

Is any preparation required for pap test? Is it necessary for women who are not sexually active to have pap tests? Is it necessary for women who have had a hysterectomy to be tested?

Liquid-based Pap test Thin Prep Traditional Pap test What can the examination of the cervical cells under the microscope show? What is the Pap test? What is the reliability of the Pap test and how can it be improved? Are there HPV tests that show the type of the virus? At what age is it recommended that women get an HPV test and why? Can an HPV test be performed together with the Pap test?

How is the HPV test performed? How should a woman prepare before an HPV test? If the HPV test comes out positive, does this mean that you have something serious? In which cases is their use recommended? What are the possible results of the HPV test and what do they mean? What is PCR? What is the HPV test? What safety does the combination of the Pap test and HPV test offer for women over 30?

What is a colposcopy? Is my HPV infection an old or a recent one? Do I have premalignant lesions caused by HPV? Frequently Asked Questions. What are genital warts? What causes genital warts? What do genital warts look like? Is it a common disease? Where do warts appear in women? Where do warts appear in men? Is the appearance of warts in the mouth frequent? What types of HPV cause genital warts?

Diagnosis of genital warts What are the symptoms of genital warts? How does a woman discover genital warts?

How can you know if you have genital warts elsewhere? What is the association between genital warts and cancers caused by HPV? Here are a few things to know about this important examination before your appointment.

A colposcopy is used to find cancerous cells or abnormal cells that can become cancerous in the cervix, vagina, or vulva. A special instrument called a colposcope gives your doctor a lighted, highly magnified view of the tissues that make up your cervix, vagina, and vulva. The colposcope is placed close to the body, but it does not enter the body. A pap test , also called a pap smear, involves gathering a sample of cells from your cervix and testing them for early changes that can lead to cervical cancer.

If your pap test showed some abnormal cells and you tested positive for HPV , a colposcopy can help confirm and diagnose potential problems. HPV, or human papillomavirus, is a virus that may raise your risk for certain types of cancer, including cervical, vaginal, and vulvar cancers.

Your doctor may also recommend a colposcopy if you have symptoms or signs of cervical, vaginal, or vulvar cancer. A colposcopy can be done in the office of your primary care doctor or your gynecologist. An instrument called a speculum will be inserted inside your vagina to open it up and give your doctor a clearer view of your cervix.

Your cervix, vagina, and vulva will be lightly wiped with a vinegar or iodine solution that helps your doctor better see abnormal areas. The colposcope is positioned between your legs as close to your vagina as possible, but it never goes inside your body.

During the colposcopy, your doctor may perform a biopsy on areas that look unhealthy. Typically, further testing is needed if a Pap test comes back with abnormal results. These tests could include a colposcopy or a cervical biopsy. A colposcopy is a test that is typically performed after an abnormal Pap. The two tests are similar in nature, however, the biggest difference is that a colposcopy also uses a magnifying instrument to help the physician get a closer look.

Colposcopies may also be done if a woman has unexplained irregular bleeding or to diagnose cervical cancer. Cervical biopsies are slightly more invasive than Pap tests or colposcopies and involve a small excision of tissue for further testing.

Experts recommend that women who are sexually active or over the age of 21 get Pap tests done every 3 years. According to Table 6 , among the immunodeficient patients, the frequency distribution of HPV infection was In developing countries, cervical cancer, which is preventable, is one of the most common causes of death in women. In this study, sensitivity, specificity, and the positive and negative predictive values test of Pap smear were determined to be Sensitivity, specificity, and the positive and negative predictive values of colposcopy were calculated as An abnormal Pap smear is an indication for colposcopy, endocervical curettage, and cervical biopsy for detecting cervical cancer There have been very few studies of the performance of the Pap test when it is used for immunocompromised women 16 , but in one study conducted by Cordiner et al.

The Cordiner et al. In this study, sensitivity, specificity, and positive and negative predictive values of Pap smear in the 23—44 age group were In the 45—78 age group, the values were 10, 96, 50, and The false negative results in the Pap test of HIV-infected patients could have been due to other infections, such as Neisseria gonorrhoeae and trichomonas vaginalis Studies have shown that even HIV patients who have a negative Pap smear should be screened every six months. The study showed that this approach can be more beneficial than other preventive cares.

This study showed that The results of this study suggest that colposcopy should be considered as the routine screening for these patients In the study of Maiman et al. In this study, the positive colposcopy included CIN2 and higher, and, because of the inadequate sample, we could not calculate the sensitivity and specificity in each grade of CIN separately as was done in the previous study.

Sensitivity was 0. A Japanese study used low-grade squamous intraepithelial lesion as the cut-off point, and there was a Due to the use of different reference tests and different target groups, various studies have reported different accuracy values for conventional cytology 8 , In a cohort study, Anderson et al.

They concluded that, for these two groups of women, there was significant agreement between the cytologic findings and the colposcopic and histologic findings. Despite having normal cytologic findings, a few of the HIV-infected women had cervical intraepithelial neoplasia. These findings do not support the routine use of colposcopy in all HIV-infected women Studies in the USA have shown that women in the 29—30 age group who live in areas where the prevalence of HPV and HIV is high have a higher risk of having cervical cancer.

Cervical cancer is invasive, but it also is preventable if special screening is conducted for HIV-infected women The results of a review study showed that many gynecologists in health organizations consider neither special screening for cervical cancer for HIV-infected women nor the function of the immune system, such as CD4 lymphocyte Canada is one of the many countries in the world in which colposcopy is used extensively for the routine screening of HIV-infected women.

However, for ethical reasons and because of the high cost, this method is not routinely used to date. In Canada, routine screening is done every six months using the Pap smear and follow-up tests if the patients have HIV In the USA, it is suggested that, even when the Pap smear is normal, patients should repeat the Pap smear every three months 31 — Leibenson et al.

It seems that the rate of persistent HPV in these patients is higher than in the general population because their immune systems are compromised, making them vulnerable to pre-malignant lesions.

Since cervical cancer is the most common gynecological cancer in developing countries and since the accuracy of the Pap smear was low in this study, there is a clear need for a method that can provide an early diagnosis of cervical cancer.

For that reason, we recommend that secondary immunodeficient patients have an annual colposcopy instead of a Pap smear. Conflict of Interest: There is no conflict of interest to be declared. Authors' contributions: All authors contributed to this project and article equally. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.

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