Microinvasive cervical cancer after five negative Papanicolaou smears

In view of the controversy regarding the appropriate frequency for cytologic screening, a 28-year-old woman who developed microinvasive carcinoma of the cervix less than one year after her fifth negative Papanicolaou smear is described. The lesion was found not high in the endocervical canal, but at the squamocolumnar junction well out on the portio of the cervix. This case documents that the risk of less frequent screening is not zero.