If a woman gets a false negative pap smear result after a gynecological exam, it can mean that she could be diagnosed with highly advanced cervical cancer down the road.

The pap test has found to be 80 percent effective in lowering the rate of death among women with cervical cancer through early detection. This is when the test is read correctly and, if abnormal cells are found, combined with prompt care and intervention.

What is the Pap Smear?

Dr. Georgios Papanikolaou, a Greek physician that emigrated to the U.S. in 1913, is credited with having invented the pap smear. The pap smear is a diagnostic test whereby a sample of cells is taken from the cervix to determine whether there are cellular abnormalities that could lead to cancer.

He first introduced the test in 1928 through a report, but the process became widely publicized through a book in the early 1940’s.

Correlation is not Causation

There are risk factors that can increase the chances of developing cervical cancer. While it is not necessarily a cause, exposure to human papillomaviruses (HPV) can correlate with the development of this type of cancer. This is why most pap tests, at least for women up until 35, include tests for HPV.

According to a Savannah Now article, HPV produces two proteins known as E6 and E7 which turn off the activity of genes designed to suppress growing tumors. With this activity turned off, abnormal cells can grow exponentially and become cancer.

Other risk increasers for cervical cancer are obesity, cigarette-smoking, long-standing use of birth control pills, and the use of intrauterine devices (IUD).

The False Negative Pap Smear

The weakness with the pap test is that there is no laboratory substitute for the human eye. The removed cervical cells cannot be put through a centrifuge or any other mechanical process to identify abnormalities or pre-cancerous states.

The cells must be thoroughly reviewed by a trained technician under a microscope. In today’s world, where so many companies try to get by on less staff, many such technicians are overworked. This and the fact that millions of these tests are ordered each year can lead to false negative pap smear readings.

A false negative pap smear reading can mean that, by the time the actual cervical cancer is diagnosed, it could be developed to a stage 3 or 4, where remediation is less effective and the chance of survival is lower.

According to Savannah Now, the American Cancer Society is credited with calling cervical cancer asymptomatic until it invades nearby tissue structures of the body. It is a silent killer in which the woman bearing such abnormal cells rarely has any knowledge of their existence.

False negative pap smear readings can and do happen. In 2011, a woman from the southeastern U.S. died from advanced cervical cancer after getting a false negative pap smear reading three years earlier. Her family was able to secure several million dollars in damages to help pay for her past medical expenses and their continued cost of support.

If you have recently been diagnosed with advanced cervical cancer after getting regular pap tests, you may qualify to participate in a free legal investigation.