Despite a new report that suggested...

Despite a new report that suggested that conventional Papanicolaou (Pap) criterions may miss up to individual half of all cases of cervical intraepithelial neoplasia (CIN), the proof represents the most successful cancer-detection strategy always developed, according to a fresh technology assessment by a committee of the American society of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG). The report, "Cervical Cytology Screening," appeared in the December 2002 issue of Obstetrics and Gynecology

Although the Pap test's reasonable rate of sensitivity would be unacceptable for principally screening tests, cervical cytology is an extremely effective tool for the eradication of cervical cancer because it takes years or decades for the earliest changes of CIN to progres to invasive cancer, the committee said. It also noted that greatest in quantity cases of CIN regress spontaneously and that greatest in quantity women are screened more than once

of the present day methods of collection, preparation, and interpretation, along with the progression in a continuously ascending gradation of adjunctive tests such as human papillomavirus DNA testing, have improved the sensitivity of the Pap trial without markedly decreasing its specificity, the committee found

COPYRIGHT 2003 American Academy of Family Physicians

COPYRIGHT 2003 Gale Group