Can a pap smear detect cancer of the uterus
A Pap smear can accurately detect cancer of the cervix , but it is substantially less accurate for detecting cancer of the body of the uterus (endometrium), the fallopian tubes, or the ovaries. In cases where these types of cancer are discovered through a Pap smear it is because the cancer cells have passed down through the tube into the cavity of the uterus and continued out through the cervix and into the vaginal discharge. In other words, the Pap test is really designed only to detect cervical cancer? That is correct. Regular Pap smears help make cervical cancer a preventable disease. Since cells from the cervix are continually being sloughed off into the normal discharge from the cervix and vagina, the Pap smear makes it possible for most cervical cancer to be detected before it has had an opportunity to invade or spread. The use of the Pap smear has helped to drop the death rate for women with cervical cancer by 60 percent in the last 30 years. Is it painful to have ...