Cervical screening utilizing cytology has been the most
successful cancer screening initiative in medical history.1
Furthermore, during the new technology era from 1996 onward,
available SEER data documents that cervical cancer
incidence in the U.S. has continued to significantly decline
along with the introduction of liquid-based cytology, computer-
assisted screening and adjunctive testing for carcinogenic
human papillomavirus (HPV).2 Nevertheless, cervical
screening anywhere has not proven capable of entirely eliminating
cervical cancer among screened patients.1,3 Given
the limitations of cervical cytology, the widespread utilization
of cervical screening testing and the strong (inaccurate)
public presumption that cervical screening should prevent
all cervical cancers in screened women, Papanicolaou (Pap)
testing remains one of the most common areas of litigation
in pathology.4