Scientists say they have found that a test that detects the two strains of human papillomavirus are most likely to raise the risk of invasive cervical cancer when combined with a pap smear.
They say the combination may be more accurate for many women than the pap test alone.
Also, for those women who are HPV positive, the HPV test alone appears to be enough.
This study was funded by the makers of the HPV test.
Researchers say using both tests together increased accuracy of identifying those who had the lesions by nearly 5 percent. However, the combination also resulted in 30 percent of women being called back for what turned out to be false positive results.
