In gynecology, the Papanikolaou test or Papanicolaou test (also called Pap smear, Pap test, cervical smear, or smear test) is a medical screening method for detecting infectious, premalignant, and malignant processes in the ectocervix, endocervix and endometrium.

The pre-cancerous changes (called dysplasias or cervical or endocervical intraepithelial neoplasia) are usually caused by sexually transmitted human papillomaviruses (HPVs).

The test aims to detect and prevent the progression of HPV-induced cervical cancer and other abnormalities in the female genital tract by sampling cells from the outer opening of the cervix of the uterus and the endocervix..

For more information about the topic Pap smear, read the full article at Wikipedia.org, or see the following related articles:

HPV vaccine — Human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine research focuses on the prevention of diseases, such as cervical cancer and genital warts, caused by sexually ...  > read more

HPV — Papillomaviruses are a diverse group of DNA-based viruses that infect the skin and mucous membranes of humans and a variety of animals (replicating ...  > read more

Cervical cancer — Cervical cancer is a malignancy of the cervix. Worldwide, it is the second most common cancer of women. It may present with vaginal bleeding but ...  > read more

Gynaecology — Gynaecology or gynecology literally means 'the science of women', but in medicine this is the specialty of diseases of the female reproductive ...  > read more

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HPV Test Is A Better Long-term Predictor Of Cervical Cell Abnormalities Than Pap Smear (November 6, 2006) — The best initial cervical cancer screening tool for younger women is still the traditional Pap smear. However, a large Danish study has found that for older women (age 40 and older), a test for human ...  > read more

Human Papilloma Virus Test Increases Cancer Detection Rate, Study Finds (May 8, 2002) — Adding a simple, highly sensitive test for the human papilloma virus (HPV) to the administration of the routine Pap test significantly increases the detection rate for cervical cancer and lowers ...  > read more

Cervical Cancer Screening: Too Many Are Left Unprotected (September 24, 2007) — The decline in cervical cancer is a success story of cancer research. Although there are reasons to be optimistic about even further decreases in cervical cancer incidence, there still remain some ...  > read more

New Test For Most Virulent HPV Strains Under Study (February 21, 2007) — A test for the two strains of human papillomavirus (HPV) responsible for most cervical cancers is under ...  > read more

Cervix Inspection Catches More Lesions Than Pap Smear Alone (January 4, 2005) — Inspecting the cervix with a bright light technology called speculoscopy directly after a Pap smear may detect more cervical lesions than the Pap test alone, according to a new review of studies ...  > read more

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