A Pap smear helps providers pick up on abnormal cervical changes that, in some cases, may suggest that cancer is likely to develop or that cancer has already developed.2In many cases, it is possible to identify and treat developing cancer before it has a chance to spread beyond the cervix....
For the detection of precancerous or cancerous changes in the cervix on Papanicolaou (Pap) test, the cervical sample should contain cells from the squamous epithelium, from the vaginal portion of the cervix, from the squamocolumnar junction and from the endocervical epithelium. The false-...