Replacing the Pap Test With Screening Based on Human Papillomavirus Assays

Ever since Georgios Papanicolaou developed his eponymous cervical smear in the 1940s, Papanicolaou (Pap) testing for cervical cytology has been the essential first step in enormously successful cervical cancer prevention efforts around the world, but that era is ending. Globally, cervical cancer is the fourth most common cause of cancer in women, with 527  600 cases and 265 700 deaths in 2012. However, cytology-based screening has led to substantial risk reductions in more developed countries. According to the American Cancer Society, 13 240 new cases of cervical cancer will be diagnosed in the United States in 2018, with 4170 deaths.
Source: JAMA - Category: General Medicine Source Type: research