There is no real consensus in the nation as to how to manage this entity. This is particularly evident in managed care plans in which the physicians are required to send the pap smears of their patients to specific laboratories. This practice will definitely reduce or eliminate the communication between the pathologists and clinicians, which is valuable for good patient care and ultimately will have an adverse effect on the patients. In many instances, the quality of the cytopathology laboratory is not an issue. This can be a major problem for the clinician and patient.
Cervical cancer remains and important cause of cancer morbidity and mortality among women.
It is estimated that approximately 440,000 new cases of cervical cancer occur annually worldwide. It is assumed that the decline in the incidence of cervical cancer in the industrialized countries is predominantly attributable to the widespread availability of cytology screening. Based on many national and regional surveys, the reduction in the incidence of cervical cancer in a population is directly relation to the percentage of the population that has been screening and the length of the screening interval. However, similar to other screening, diagnostic or therapeutic procedures used in medicine, the process of cervical screening is imperfect. This may explain why significant numbers of patients still die from cervical cancer each year.