Pap test

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The Papanicolaou test (abbreviated as Pap test, also known as Pap smear (AE), cervical smear (BE), or smear test (BE)) is a method of cervical screening used to detect potentially precancerous and cancerous processes in the cervix (opening of the uterus or womb) or, more rarely, anus (in both men and women) or the vaginal vault. In patients who have had a hysterectomy, the cervix is normally removed and Pap smears are not indicated (unless the uterus was removed on suspicion of neoplasia). Abnormal findings are often followed up by more sensitive diagnostic procedures and, if warranted, interventions that aim to prevent progression to cervical cancer. The test was independently invented in the 1920s by the Greek physician Georgios Papanikolaou and named after him. A simplified version of the test was introduced by the Canadian obstetrician Anna Marion Hilliard in 1957. A Pap smear is performed by opening the vagina with a speculum and collecting cells at the outer opening of the cervix...

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