Pap Smear

   The Pap test, a stain-analysis technique for identifying atypical cells and malignancy in cervical-tissue smears, was the invention of George Nicholas Papanicolaou (1883-1962). In the test he devised, a small spatula is inserted into the vagina to remove fluid mixed with urine cells. The fluid is dyed, spread on a glass slide, and examined under a microscope. Papanicolaou was born in Greece and received a medical degree at Athens and a doctorate in biology at Munich. He immigrated to America in 1914 and became a teacher of medicine. He held a position in pathology at New York Hospital and concurrently taught anatomy at Cornell Medical College. Toward the end of his life he directed the Miami Cancer Institute, which after his death was renamed in his honor. The medical profession was slow to accept his test, the research for which .was begun in the 1920s. It was not until 1942 that a monograph Papanicolaou wrote with Herbert Traut, Diagnosis of Uterine Cancer by the Vaginal Smear, changed clinical opinion to his favor by demonstrating the value of early detection.

   Today the Pap smear is a routine screening test, and is credited with substantially reducing the mortality rate of uterine and cervical cancer.