WHEN CERVICOVAGINAL SMEARS WERE INTRODUCE D IN FRANCE

Cervico-vaginal smears were quite difficult to accept when they were f irst introduced in France, during the fifties, probably due to a fear that cytology might replace surgical pathology, whereas both methods m ay develop close together. At last, bridging the gap was accomplished by the pathologists and, nowadays, a number of cytopathologists have b een trained and have become quite clever. Obviously, clinicians cannot do without the method described by George N. Papanicolaou (the so-cal led Pap test). Although cervical carcinoma is the very one cancer that should have been eradicated, as complete recovery is the rule when th e diagnosis is made in time, at the preinvasive stage of the tumor, in France it is still responsible for 2 000 annual deaths. Systematical target population screening should be organized, as well as in other c ountries and should become one of the main priorities of health care c ontrol.