When was pap smear test invented

Despite having a medical degree, George Papanicolaou had to take any job that was available—so his employment included stints as a newspaper clerk and violinist. The introduction of the Pap test reduced cervical cancer deaths by 70 percent over the last 50 years. While cervical cancer was previously the number one cancer killer of women, early screening has made it 13th, according to American Cancer Society information. Papanicolaou was born in on the island of Euboea, Greece, where he was one of four children.

He graduated from medical school in , where he received top honors, according to information from the U. Library of Medicine. Throughout his career, he worked as an assistant surgeon in the military, a physician who treated leprosy patients, and finally, his positions at Cornell University and New York University. His wife worked with him as a technician.

In , he discovered that he was able to discern differences between normal and malignant cervical cells by viewing samples under a microscope.

However, it was not until , when his book on the procedure was published. The test was inexpensive, simple and it soon became the standard test in screening for cervical cancer. The process has been changed very little since its initial conception and still remains the most widespread screening tool for cervical cancer.

However, the test received little attention for the next ten years. In , a clinical trial was finally begun in which women admitted to New York Hospital had a vaginal smear interpreted by Papanikolaou.

The test detected a considerable number of early cancers that could not have otherwise been diagnosed. Papanikolaou spent the next decade proving the value of the tests and training others to interpret the slides. The first mass screening programme was launched in Shelby County, Tennessee, in Over , women were screened and were diagnosed with cancer. The development of the Pap smear test is now recognised as one of the most significant advances in the control of cancer in the 20th century.

Since a cervical cancer screening programme began in the UK in the s, rates of cervical cancer have almost halved. Screening prevents at least cervical cancer deaths a year in this country alone.

Papanikolaou studied medicine in Greece and served in the Greek army for two years before going to Germany for postgraduate studies in There he studied under Ernest Haeckel and August Weismann , two of the most influential evolutionary biologists of the early 20 th century, and decided to devote himself to biological research. In , Papanikolaou and his wife Andromache emigrated to New York to look for better opportunities for a career in research.

They spoke no English and had little money, but she found work sewing buttons at a department store. George was hired as a rug salesman, but only lasted a day.