BMJ  2006;333:304-305 (5 August), doi:10.1136/bmj.333.7562.304-b

Letter

Stirrups or no stirrups for routine speculum examinations?

Patient comfort is secondary to cervical smear quality...

The first 150 words of the full text of this article appear below.

EDITOR—Seehusen et al suggest performing gynaecological examinations without stirrups to reduce stress for women.¹ They also conclude that examination without stirrups does not affect the quality of cervical smears. Their study tackles the problem of discomfort during gynaecological examinations, which may hamper adherence to cervical cancer screening, but several aspects should be considered in interpreting the results.

The primary goal when obtaining cervical smears should always be to achieve the highest possible quality so that screening achieves its goal of detecting early stages of cervical cancer. Although reduction in pain and discomfort during the examination is important and highly welcomed, it needs to remain secondary to the quality of smears. If the quality is insufficient, false positive or negative findings can put women at risk of undetected cancer or unnecessary psychological stress or procedures.

If a study compares two methods of obtaining cervical smears it has first to . . . [Full text of this article]

Anne.Spaar@usz.ch, Horten Centre for Patient-oriented Research and Knowledge Transfer, University Hospital of Zurich, Postfach Nord, CH-8091 Zurich, Switzerland

Horten Centre for Patient-oriented Research and Knowledge Transfer, University Hospital of Zurich, Postfach Nord, CH-8091 Zurich, Switzerland

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