Cervical Cancer Screening is Important

There are nearly 14,000 cases of cervical cancer diagnosed in the United States each year and over 4,000 women die from the disease annually. Cervical cancer grows very slowly and can be detected and treated before it becomes cancer. That’s why screening is so important. In fact, over half of cervical cancer diagnosed in the United States occurs in people who’ve never been screened or who have been infrequently screened.

The Traditional Pap Test

The first test developed to screen for cervical cancer was called the Pap smear after George Papanicolao, the doctor who invented it in the 1940s. Widespread use of the Pap smear, which we now refer to as the Pap test or cytology, brought the rates of cervical cancers down by over 70%.

A Pap test is always done by a health care provider. It is usually part of a pelvic exam. A clinician will insert a speculum to separate the walls of your vagina so they can see the cervix (the bottom part of your uterus). They then use a brush to collect some cells from the cervix. This may feel uncomfortable (some people say the speculum feels heavy), but it usually doesn’t hurt.

These cells are put in a test tube that already has a liquid solution in it and sent to a lab. The cells are examined under a microscope using a process called cytology. This can determine if there are any changes to the cells that might be cancerous or pre-cancerous.

The HPV Test

We now know that almost all cases of cervical cancer are caused by the human papilloma virus (HPV). Two types of HPV—16 and 18—cause most cervical cancer. There are other types that are also considered high risk.

 

Since the early 2000s, the HPV test has been able to look for the presence of specific types of the virus in samples of cells from the cervix. If you test positive for high-risk HPV, it does not mean you have cancer, but you will likely have to have additional tests to look for cancer or precancerous cells.

Until recently, the HPV test was done in much the same way as the Pap test. A provider would use a speculum and scrape the cervix with a brush or tiny spatula. These cells would be sent to a lab for testing.

Often HPV tests and Pap tests are done at the same time and sent to the lab together. This is called co-testing.