• A biospecimen collection and staining procedure in which secretions and superficial cells of the cervix are collected and stained with the Papanicolaou stain followed by microscopic examination to identify the presence of abnormal cells.
  NCI Thesaurus
  U.S. National Cancer Institute, 2021
• A procedure in which cells are scraped from the cervix for examination under a microscope. It is used to detect cancer and changes that may lead to cancer. A Pap smear can also show conditions, such as infection or inflammation, that are not cancer.
  NCI Dictionary of Cancer Terms
  U.S. National Cancer Institute, 2021
• (cervical/vaginal smear) Collection of pooled secretions of the posterior vaginal fornix for cytologic examination.
  CRISP Thesaurus
  National Institutes of Health, 2006
• Worldwide, approximately 500,000 new cases of cervical cancer and 274,000 deaths are attributable to cervical cancer yearly, making cervical cancer the second most common cause of death from cancer in women. Fortunately, the incidence of cervical cancer has decreased by more than 50% in the past 30 years, largely due to the increasing...
  Medscape
  WebMD, 2019
• A Pap smear, also called a Pap test, is a procedure to test for cervical cancer in women. A Pap smear involves collecting cells from your cervix - the lower, narrow end of your uterus that's at the top of your vagina.
  Mayo Clinic
  Mayo Foundation for Medical Education and Research
• Pap smear, laboratory method of obtaining secretions from the cervix for the examination of cast-off epithelial cells to detect the presence of cancer. The Pap smear, named for Greek-born American physician George Papanicolaou, is notably reliable in detecting the early stages of cancer in the...
  Encyclopedia Britannica
  Encyclopedia Britannica, Inc., 2020