One of my colleagues has had a call from her health centre regarding the results of her smear test. The nurse said there was an abnormality which leaned towards the possibility of pre cancerous cells. My colleague has to wait for 6 months then have another test to see if the situation has righted itself or if further investigation is necessary. My question is, what would cause cells to show up as pre cancerous, only to right themselves? Could it be something to do with her hormones that has caused the result. Is there a test for HPV? Is the result she has had common?
Abnormal cells are not necessarily pre-malignant.
Yes there is a test for HPV.
Yes hormonal factors may cause "abnormal" cells
Yes this result is VERY common.
Thanks Sqad. She`s been quite worried.
By the way the rash on my arm is getting a bit better with the hydrocortisone. I have to keep it up though. It soon starts to itch when the cream wears off but such is life :-)
It's not unusual, 237 - if they were worried, they would ask her back straight away for further investigation. They have to tell her there is an abnormality, they can't say it 's OK if it isn't.
Oh, I had this for several years...............
I turned up for 6-monthly call-backs for about 4 years. Then all of a sudden everything was 'normal' and I reverted to the usual 3-yearly.
Thanks boxtops. That is what I said to her. I was quite surprised though because I had a smear test about 4 weeks ago and I had the results in the post 10 days later. My colleague lives in Northern Ireland and she received the results 5 weeks later. The UK postcode lottery is alive and well unfortunately.