“No Need for Routine Pelvic Exams.” By Charles Bankhead, MedPage Today.
Average-risk, asymptomatic women do not benefit from pelvic exams as part of routine care and face potential harms from false-positive results, according to a new clinical guideline. A review of more than 60 years’ worth of medical literature did not produce compelling evidence that the benefits of routine pelvic exams outweigh the potential harms, reports a statement published online in Annals of Internal Medicine. Instead, screening pelvic exams have a low diagnostic accuracy for both cancer and infections. The authors conclude that the exam is not useful for asymptomatic women who are not pregnant.
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