Deaths from uterine cervical cancer have been dramatically reduced since the development in the 1940s of the Papanicolaou smear (also called the Pap smear or test) for detection of precursor lesions. Along with the vaccines for smallpox, polio, and other viruses, this screening test has been hailed as one of the most successful public health measures and is the only cancer screening test proved...

OBJECTIVE To determine the feasibility of visual inspection with the use of acetic acid (VIA) as a screening method for cervical cancer, an alternative to the Pap smear used in primary health care setting in Sudan, and to compare sensitivity, specificity, positive and negative predictive values, and histological diagnosis of positive cases of both tests. METHODS A cross-sectional study of 934...

Papanicolaou test or better known as Pap test is the most popular and effective screening test for cervical cancer. At time, however, the detection of abnormal or cancerous cervical cells can be missed due to technical and human errors. In certain cases, the Pap smear images are blurred and highly affected by unwanted noises. These factors can hide and obscure the important cervical cells morph...

OBJECTIVE We sought to test the diagnostic efficacy of a low-cost, liquid-based cervical cytology that could be implemented in low-resource settings. MATERIALS AND METHODS A prospective, split-sample Pap study was performed in 595 women attending a cervical cancer screening clinic in rural El Salvador. Collected cervical samples were used to make a conventional Pap (cell sample directly to gl...

OBJECTIVE We examined the accuracy of the Papanicolaou (Pap) test among women with and women at high risk for human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection. METHODS Pap test results and colposcopy findings were compared for 189 HIV-infected women and 95 HIV-uninfected women from the Baltimore HIV Epidemiology Research (HER) study site who were followed up semiannually from 1993 through 1999. C...

Objective: To determine the accuracy of visual inspection with acetic acid in comparison with Pap smear against colposcopic directed biopsy, for detection of pre-cancerous lesion. Methods: The comparative cross-sectional study was conducted at the Maternal and Child Health Centre (MCHC), Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences (PIMS), Islamabad, from January to December 2010. Every married women...

BACKGROUND The aim of the study was to assess the extent of knowledge, attitudes and practical behavior of women in Bojnourd conerning the Pap smear test. MATERIALS AND METHODS This cross-sectional and population-based study was conducted with 1000 Iranian women aged 15-60 years old in Bojnourd city. In order to collect the data, a validated questionnaire was provided in four sections coverin...

BACKGROUND Cervical cancer is the leading female cancer in Bhutan. This study describes the level of cervical cancer knowledge and screening behaviors among female university graduates attending the National Graduate Orientation Program (NGOP), 2012. METHODS A cross-sectional study of female graduates attending NGOP was conducted using self-administered anonymous questionnaire developed throu...

Introduction: Cervical cancer is a huge emotional and financial burden on society. To curb the disease, there is a need to develop a screening test that has good sensitivity and specificity. The present study is aimed to compare the effectiveness of the Pap smear, Visual Inspection with Acetic Acid (VIA) for mass screening of premalignant and malignant lesions of the cervix. Aims and objectives...