In five pages this paper assesses the pap smear screening too for cancer detection. Eight sources are cited in the bibliography.
Name of Research Paper File: LM1_TLCpapsm.rtf
Unformatted Sample Text from the Research Paper:
of the most effective screening tools for women still utilized today. Developed decades ago by Dr. George Papanicolaou, the Pap smear is considered one of but a handful of
diagnostic tests that can "detect the presence of a premalignant lesion allowing for the prevention of cancer" (Anonymous, 2002). By comparison, the preventative nature of Pap smear results rivals
that of most all other tests, in that existing technology finds cancer once it has already had time to progress, making it extremely difficult in many cases to prevent cancer-related
death. Between the years of 1950 and 1980, the Pap smear - "the primary method for detecting cervical cancer" (Anonymous, 1998, p. 7) - has been credited with decreasing
associated deaths by more than sixty percent; however, the diagnostic screening tool is only as good as a womans last test, since approximately fourteen thousand women continue to succumb to
cervical cancer due to infrequent or no testing. "Despite the Pap tests 50-year record as a safe and highly accurate screening tool for cervical cancer and precancerous abnormalities of
the cervix, many women who do not have regular Pap tests" (Anonymous, 1996, pp. 1-2). Typically, the recommended age to begin annual Pap smear testing is at age eighteen,
however, some within the medical community believe it is not necessary to institute a yearly regimen for those so young. "For young women the chance of benefit is small,
leaving on balance a greater risk of harm" (Anonymous, 2002, p. PG). The fundamental basis of this procedure is to collect a sampling of exfoliated cells from within the vagina,
the cervix or even the endometrium in order to determine the presence of cancerous or precancerous cells. The perpetual process of cell exfoliation represents the bodys constant state of