SOCIAL MEDIA
Portuguese Medical Association's Scientific Journal
Cervical cancer is one of the most common types of cancer in women. Cervical cancer screening is needed for the detection and treatment of cervical neoplastic lesions that can evolve to neoplasia and to reduce the incidence of cervical cancer. Recently, changes were made to increase the efficiency of the screening process such as employing the human papilloma virus detection test as the gold standard for cervical cancer screening and acknowledging the importance of adapting clinical practice to consider the risk of developing this neoplasia. Considering this paradigm shift, new clinical practice guidelines are now needed. For this purpose, a group of experts analyzed and discussed the most recent literature, defining recommendations and proposing clinical practice guidelines that focus on risk stratification, diagnostic evaluation, and on the therapeutical approach and follow-up of women with altered screening results. The aim of this article is to guide clinical practice regarding actions to take in face of altered results of cervical cancer screening and, consequently, to improve the secondary prevention of this condition.