Cancer of the cervix is the second most common form of cancer in women worldwide with almost 3,000 new cases diagnosed in the UK each year.

There has been no definite single cause identified, but a viral infection of the cervix is present in most cases.

Smoking appears to increase a woman's risk of developing cervical cancer and there may also be a link to the numbers of sexual partners a woman has had at a young age.

The NHS says if the cancer is detected early it can be treated and cured quite easily.

To make sure more women have the chance of catching the disease in its earliest stages a National Screening Programme was launched by the NHS in 1988. The programme invites women to take a smear test every three years to detect any potentially cancerous cells.

Follow-up treatments, such as surgery or radiotherapy to prevent the cancer developing, are offered and it is estimated through this early detection and treatment 75 per cent of cancers are prevented.

Marie Weber, laboratory manager at Queen Mary's Hospital Sidcup cytology department feels the programme has been massively successful.

She said: "Incidents of cervical cancer have decreased by 40 per cent since the NHS Screening Programme started. Queen Mary's cytology unit is about to take the programme further, as it recently won a bid to become the processing centre for operating Liquid Based Cytology (LBC) which is an updated screening method. It will be launching here in April."

LBC is a new process for preparing cervical samples for examination.

The sample is collected in a similar way to a conventional smear, using a rotating broom' which brushes cells from the neck of the womb. Samples are collected into a vial of preservative fluid, which prevents contamination.

Samples are sent to a laboratory where they are treated to remove unwanted tissue. This reduces the sample to one layer of cells making cellular abnormalities easier to detect and minimises risk of misdiagnosis.

This updated technique is expected to considerably reduce the need to recall patients for a re-screening.

In LBC trials, the number of inadequate smears fell from nine per cent to between one and two per cent, meaning the test is more efficient than a traditional smear.

For more information visit the website cancerscreening.nhs.uk/cervical