[Pap smear before 25 years old].

OBJECTIVES: Current French recommendations advocate cervical-vaginal screening for cervical cancer from age 25 whereas earlier screening is mostly found in current clinical practice although its consequences are not well understood.

METHODS: A literature review using the MedLine database on the natural history of HPV infections, cytological screening, management of cytological and histological anomalies in adolescents and young women.

RESULTS: The adolescent and young woman have some characteristics that distinguish them from adult women: a high prevalence of HPV infections (making the use of the HPV test unprofitable), accompanied by a higher clearance; frequency of minor cytological abnormalities (for which a cytological surveillance without colposcopy is sufficient) and low-grade histological lesions of low grade the usual prognosis of which is complete recovery; and rarity of CIN3 lesions and absence of invasive lesions, allowing no treatment in patients with CIN2 lesions and compliant to cytological and colposcopic surveillance.

CONCLUSION: Cervical screening in the adolescent and young woman is not a logical attitude and the discovery of cytological or histological lesions requires specific behavior in this particular population.