The Pap Test: Is it Time to Move on?

The Papanicolaou vaginal smear – the Pap test – for the early detection of cervical cancer in women, represents one of the milestones of the modern medicine and the turning point towards the applicative concepts of preventive oncology. During the 20th century, cytological screening for cervical cancer has been the gold standard and is now widely recognized to have represented one of the major public health advances.