Failure to Diagnose Cervical Cancer on Pap Smear

The Pap Smear is the primary screening test that has made possible the early diagnosis of Cervical Cancer. Regular Pap Smear screening should eliminate Cervical Cancer as a cause of death.

Although Pap Smear Tests are performed performed by medical doctors, they typically are not read by medical doctors. Pap Smears typically are read by cytotechnologists the large laboratories where the slides are sent to be evaluated.

Because cytotechnologists are not medical doctors and read a high volumes of Pap Smear Tests, the incidence of tests being misread is alarmingly high. In 1989, American Medical Association documented that up to 30% of all Pap Smear Tests reported to show no adverse changes had cancer or cancer-like cells present that required treatment.

Each time a positive Pap Smear Test is misread and reported as negative, a woman is led to believe she is safe from Cervical Cancer. In reality, the misread Pap Smear Test only has made it safe for Cervical Cancer to grow and spread freely inside her body. A misread Pap Smear Test can allow pre-cancerous cells to develop into Cervical Cancer and Cervical Cancer to progress from a early stage when it can be treated by a cone biopsy or surgery (such as a hysterectomy), to a later stage that requires extensive radiation and chemotherapy, which can lead to serious and permanent health conditions such as radiation cystitis, radiation proctitis, and death, radiation-induced gastrointestinal reflux disease, etc.

As stated above, a delay in the diagnosis of Cervical Cancer can prevent a woman from receiving proper treatment when the cancer still is at a stage when it may cured and result in her completely preventable, needless death.