I wanted to share this with you because that's what I study at the university
Cervical cytology or Papanicolau Test is used to diagnose precociously diseases such as cancer of the cervix, thanks to the extraction of a sample by gentle scraping.
Cervical cytology is a diagnostic test in which cells of the cervix are examined. The cervix, also known as the cervix, is the lower and narrowest part of the uterus and is located at the end of the vagina. The cells are obtained by inserting a brush and a small spatula into the vagina with which a gentle scraping is performed on the cervix. The sample is spread in a glass called a holder or it is placed in a preservative liquid to be looked at later under a microscope.
Cervical or cervical cytology is also commonly called vaginal cytology, vaginal smear or Papanicolaou test, in honor of a Greek doctor who developed this technique in the first half of the 20th century.
The objective of this test is to detect as soon as possible the existence of cervical cancer, or precancerous lesions in it, in order to treat it as early as possible. In almost all cases, cervical cancer is associated with infection by a virus called human papilloma virus (HPV), which is acquired sexually. This virus causes changes in the morphology and structures of cells of the cervix that can be transformed into malignant cells. In the scraping that is done during the test, these cells are collected, which may present pre-malignant changes, indicating that they are evolving towards cancer, or they may already be cancer cells.
HPV can also be detected in samples taken from the cervix. For this, some of the samples taken from the cervix are sent to the laboratory to investigate the presence of this virus. However, it has not yet been clearly determined when the HPV test should be performed and its usefulness.