Newer, and more expensive, is not always better. Apparently, the liquid-based PAP test (done at almost every GYN office) is no better than the old one:

“Liquid-based cytology did not reduce the percentage of unsatisfactory slides compared with conventional cytology,” they concluded. “There are very few studies with which to estimate the relative performance of the two methods validly, and there is no evidence that liquid-based cytology is more accurate than conventional cytology at detecting high-grade disease in high-quality studies.”

One expert thinks that, despite the study findings, liquid-based cytology is here to stay.

“This study does not dismiss liquid-based cytology as a means of reading Paps,” said Dr. Stephanie V. Blank, a member of the New York University Cancer Institute’s Division of Gynecologic Oncology.

Blank noted that many hospitals and laboratories have adopted liquid-based cytology at great expense. “They’re not going to switch,” she said. “In addition, cytologists find the liquid-based cytology easier to read and the samples are easier to prepare, and you can also do human papilloma virus (HPV) testing very easily on liquid-based Pap smears.” HPV infection is thought to the leading trigger for cervical cancer.