Should cervical smear examination be done every year?

Cervical smear cytology, commonly known as cervical scraping, was proposed by an American in 1943. The process is very simple, that is, a small amount of mucosa and secretions are scraped from the cervix with a scraper, evenly smeared on a glass slide, and then the cells are fixed and stained, and then the presence of cancer cells is observed under a microscope. The whole process usually takes 5-6 minutes to complete.

At present, this method is widely used all over the world and is the simplest, most economical and most effective diagnostic method for screening cervical cancer. Cervical smear examination can not only detect cervical cancer, but also detect precancerous lesions of the cervix.

The World Health Organization (WHO) recommends that all sexually active women over the age of 18 should undergo a cervical smear cytology test once a year. In my country, cervical smears are also a free screening program, and it is recommended that women who have had sexual intercourse for more than three years or who have been sexually active over the age of 21 should undergo an annual test. In particular, women over the age of 40 who have a high risk of cervical cancer, such as those who have had sexual intercourse too early, have multiple sexual partners, have married early, have multiple children, or have had a viral infection of the cervix, need to undergo cervical cancer screening every year.

For women who have been found to have abnormal cervical cell proliferation (precancerous lesions) in previous cervical smear tests, a cervical smear test should be performed every 3-6 months based on risk assessment to determine whether the cervical cells have become cancerous. If the cervical cell test is normal, but there is bacterial, fungal, or viral infection in the cervix, or cervical erosion, it is recommended to review the cervical smear in time after the inflammation and lesions are treated to determine whether there is a risk of cancer.