The American College of Physicians (ACP) has released a controversial new guideline that claims pelvic examinations for cervical cancer screening actually do more harm than good and do not benefit women who have symptoms of the cancer.

According to ACP’s new guidelines, the pelvic examination very rarely detects disease and does not help in bringing down mortality in relation to cervical cancer. It is also associated with discomfort and false positives.

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“It is recommended that doctors quit using pelvic examinations as a screening tool,” the ACP said.

The ACP guideline, which is expected to become very controversial, is part of a growing movement to reevaluate many existing medical practices that have been considered as more habitual than necessity.

According to the guideline’s coauthor, Dr. Linka Humphrey of the Oregon Health & Science University and Portland Veterans Affairs Medical Center, scientific evidence does not support the old-age claim that having a pelvic exam every year benefits women.

"There will be women who are relieved, and there are women who really want to go in and talk with their doctor about it and will choose to continue this," she added.

In 2010, some 62 women in the United States underwent pelvic examination as part of the annual well-woman clinical visit.

The ACP said pelvic examinations are appropriate for women who suffer vaginal discharge, pain, urinary problems, abnormal bleeding or sexual dysfunction, but a Pap smear should not require a manual pelvic examination, it said.

In 2012, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported that pelvic examinations were not a good screening tool for ovarian cancer and should not be required nor performed before a woman was prescribed birth control pills.

The recommendation to scrap the pelvic examination as a cervical cancer screening tool is not entirely embraced by the medical community.

The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, for instance, continues to recommend annual pelvic examinations, even as it acknowledges there is not enough evidence that would support or refute the benefit of pelvic exam.