Pap Smears Detect Fetuses’ Genetic Disorders As Early As 5 Weeks Into Pregnancy

A new study found Pap smears to be a promising way for the early treatment of genetic disorders. Experts found that doing Pap smears early in pregnancy can help detect and treat fetuses' genetic disorders.

The study was published in the journal Science Translational Medicine, Live Science reported. At the moment, screening fetuses for genetic disorders are done in a more invasive manner and are performed on women who are nine to 12 weeks pregnant. A Pap smear, on the other hand, is a simpler procedure that involves gently scraping a small sample of cells from the cervix or the opening of the uterus.

Pap smears are usually done as a screening procedure for cervical cancer, according to Healthline. The presence of precancerous or cancerous cells on the cervix is tested but now it looks like that pap smears also have a huge hand in detecting genetic disorders among developing fetuses in the womb.

Other methods for prenatal testing can bring about fetal loss, though that risk is only small. Those methods acquire direct samples of the placenta, the fluid surrounding the growing fetus that contains fetal tissues.

Some of the genetic disorders that can be detected through pap smears are blood ailments such as thalassemia and sickle cell anemia, which are rare among people but "are a major health burden." Another genetic disorder that can be detected via Pap smear is congenital adrenal hyperplasia, a condition characterized by a deficiency of the enzymes necessary for making specific hormones.

Detecting genetic disorders early in pregnancy helps doctors treat the conditions even before birth. Other genetic disorders that can be detected via a genetic test are psoriasis, Celiac disease, breast and ovarian cancer, age-related macular degeneration (AMD), bipolar disorder, obesity and Parkinson's disease, a separate report from Live Science listed.

In other news, a study from the Singapore General Hospital (SGH) found that a combination of Pap smear tests and human papillomavirus (HPV) tests improves pre-cancer detection, Channel NewsAsia reported. The research, which was conducted in 2013, found that cancer's detection rate went up to 100 percent from 70 percent when Pap smears were done alongside HPV tests.

Tay Sun Kuie, a professor and a senior consultant at SGH's Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, said that cervical cancer is "highly preventable." Detecting pre-cancer earlier boosts women's survival rate, thanks to early necessary treatments that stops the condition from getting worse.