Computer System Urged for Cancer Checkup

Scientists urged the Food and Drug Administration Monday to approve a computer system that for the first time would allow doctors to double-check Pap smears to ensure no cervical cancer is missed.

An FDA advisory committee agreed that the Papnet system, manufactured by Neuromedical Systems of Suffern, N.Y., will help increase detection of cancer or precancerous cells in some of the 50 million Pap smears performed in the United States annually.

“It represents progress” by increasing by as much as 30% the proportion of suspicious Pap smears that doctors could detect, said Dr. Thomas Sedlacek, a Philadelphia gynecologist.