As part of their routine gynecological exam, each year thousand of women undergo as Pap Smear. One the smears are done, they are sent to a lab for analysis. The reading of pap smears is not done by a medical doctor, but by a technician known as a cytotechnologist. The cytotechnologist reads dozens of slides each day, and the patient and her doctor depend upon the accuracy of the cytotechnologist in identifying cancerous cells on the Pap Smear.
Many cervical cancers, when detected early, are treatable because they tend to be slow-growing cancers. However, because the Pap Smear is normally done only once per year, the failure to recognize cancerous cells on the Pap Smear by the cytotechnologist may result in a delay of a year or more in the ultimate diagnosis of the cancer. The key to survival of any type of cancer is the early detection and treatment of the cancer, and a year delay may allow the cancer to increase in stage number or metastasize to other parts of the body.
