What is a Pap test?

Nowadays the most frequently used method in cervical cancer screening is a microscopic inspection of a smear from the cervix of the patient, the so-called Pap test. This Pap test may, through appearance of untypical cells, indicate the presence of a disease at the cervix. But only few of these abnormal findings in the test indicate the formation or even presence of cancer. Many studies have demonstrated that many of the surgeries performed after an abnormal Pap test, so-called conizations, could be avoided. These surgeries can have adverse effects for women in their reproductive phase, such as higher risk of perinatal loss or preterm birth.