Cervical cancer misdiagnosis has become a major concern in the patient population and medical community, with numerous women being impacted by false negative results from their Pap smear exams.

There have been a reported number of cervical cancer misdiagnosis incidents attributed to false negative Pap smear results, which can give women a false sense of security and cause them to discover the disease at a later stage.

These cases of cervical cancer misdiagnosis may later force women to face very tough revelations, which often includes limited treatment options and shortened life expectancy. While cervical cancer is one of the most common and treatable cancers in women, it can quickly become fatal if allowed to progress.

Ever since the Pap smear exam became available in 1943, the rate of cervical cancer deaths has dropped by 70 percent. The Pap smear remains a valuable tool in preventing this disease in women. This is because Pap smear exams can detect up to 98 percent of cervical cancer cells, which means almost all cases of this disease are completely preventable when using the medical exam.

However it is important to note that as many as 40 percent of Pap smear results could be false negatives, after laboratories fail to identify any abnormal cells and ultimately causing cervical cancer misdiagnosis.

Overview of Pap Smear Exams and Cervical Cancer Misdiagnosis

The Pap smear exam is one of the most commonly performed and inexpensive medical tests conducted in the United States, with this medical tool used to diagnose a number of different medical conditions.

Pap smear exams work by collecting cells from the cervix, which are then examined by medical professional at designated laboratories. Lab workers look for any signs of abnormal endocervical cells, which may be indicative of cervical cancer.

According to the American Cancer Society, cervical cancer affects approximately 1.6 out of 100,000 women with 41 million women undergoing screening using the Pap smear exam every year. Most women who receive a cervical cancer diagnosis do not undergo regular Pap smear exams, but recent false negative reports indicate other women may be at risk.

The American Cancer Society estimated that approximately 13,240 new cases of cervical cancer will be diagnosed in 2018 in the United States, with about 4,170 women dying from the disease. This means that numerous Pap smear exams are conducted on a daily basis, which may equate to a demanding workload for the lab technicians responsible for examining them.

The CDC stated Pap smear exams were ordered in almost 17.4 million physician office visits, and in almost 3.5 million hospital outpatient department visits in 2014 alone.

“Although the Pap test has been more successful than any other screening test in preventing a cancer, it’s not perfect. One of the limitations of the Pap test is that the results need to be examined by the human eye, so an accurate analysis of the hundreds of thousands of cells in each sample is not always possible,” states the American Cancer Society.

This means cervical cancer misdiagnosis is a distinct possibility, as one woman from Florida already discovered. The woman had received a cervical cancer misdiagnosis after her Pap smear exam results came back as a false negative. The woman’s husband sued the medical lab for the false negative result, alleging the cervical cancer misdiagnosis caused her death.