Cervical Screening Programme
Department of Health
The Government of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region
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The cervix is at the lower part of the uterus (womb). The cervix joins
the uterus to the vagina. Cervical smear (the Pap Smear named after its
inventor, Dr. George Papanicolaou in 1920s) is a quick and simple test
for women to detect abnormal cell changes in the cervix, which may progress
to cancer if ignored. Prevention of Cancer Cervical cancer is preceded by the development of abnormal cells in the
cervix. If left untreated, these pre-cancerous cells may change and become
cervical cancer over five to ten years. Women with pre-cancerous lesions
do not have symptoms. Cervical screening aims to prevent cervical cancer
by detecting and treating these abnormalities. Treatment of pre-cancerous
lesions has a cure rate that is close to 100%. Screening Test Remember that the cervical smear is a screening test for detecting early
abnormal changes in the cervix. When such changes are found, they can
be treated before cancer develops. It is NOT a diagnostic test for cervical
cancer. A screening test is a test to be done at regular intervals to
detect early abnormal changes when an individual has no vaginal symptoms.
About 90% of cervical smear results are normal. If abnormal cells are
detected on the cervical smear, further tests are needed to see whether
the changes are serious or not. Simple treatment is often done as an outpatient
and will prevent cancer from developing. At this stage, treatment is usually
more simple and successful. If these early changes are left untreated,
they may progress to invasive cancer. Abnormalities picked up by a screening
test should be confirmed by a diagnostic test. Limitation Cervical smear can pick up early changes effectively but is not 100%
accurate. It means that the test may sometimes wrongly give abnormal result
from a normal cervix or may sometimes miss real abnormality (this may
occur if there is a small number of cells in the specimen). Therefore,
you should consult your doctor if you notice any symptoms, even if your
recent smear result is normal. Although cervical smear is not 100% accurate,
it is widely used in many countries for the prevention of cervical cancer.
Cervical smear cannot detect other cancers such as cancer of ovary or
uterus, and is not for testing sexually transmitted diseases.
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