Cancer specialists at Penn Medicine's Abramson Cancer Center are highly experienced in using the most advanced techniques for diagnosing vaginal cancer and are actively researching better and more precise ways to detect vaginal cancer.
Diagnosing vaginal cancer
If a gynecologic concern is suspected, your physician will begin with performing a pelvic exam. In addition to the pelvic exam, a Pap test, in which the outside of the cervix and vagina are scraped and samples are submitted for microscopic analysis, as well as HPV testing should also be performed.
Even if the suspected diagnosis is vaginal cancer, the Pap test is especially important to rule out cervical cancer, which is much more common than vaginal cancer. Up to 20 percent of vaginal cancers are found incidentally by a Pap test during cervical cancer screening.
Other tests to diagnose vaginal tumors include:
Other tests that may be done include:
- Chest X-ray
- CT scan of the abdomen and pelvis
- MRI scan