Healthy women might be able to ditch annual pelvic exam, says task force

The U.S. Preventative Services Task Force issued a preliminary recommendation June 28 that would put a stop to annual pelvic exams for most healthy adult women.

The panel said there isn’t sufficient evidence to support the current practice of performing a pelvic exam every year. Plus, they pointed out the possibility for over-testing, false positives in disease detection and the potential of the tests for causing psychological discomfort.

Still recommended, though, are separate tests for cervical cancer, chlamydia and gonorrhea. The task force also said women who are at risk for certain conditions such as ovarian cancer or endometriosis and pregnant women should still be tested.

According to the Washington Post, the American College of Physicians said in 2014 the yearly exams might not actually be useful for early detection of many gynecological conditions. On the other hand, the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists generally extolls the benefits of the tests and recommends leaving decisions about testing to individual physicians and patients.

If adopted beyond a draft recommendation, the new practice could significantly cut down on the nearly 63 million pelvic exams performed every year.

The recommendation from the Preventative Services Task Force is only a draft, meaning a final recommendation will be published later. The draft is now open for public comment online through July 25.