Cervical cancer rates have dramatically declined in the United States due to widespread Pap smear screening and the ability to treat precancerous lesions before they develop into cancer. The introduction of the Pap test in the 1940s allowed early detection and helped reduce cervical cancer incidence and mortality rates by over 60% between 1955 and 1992. New automated screening systems using digital imaging and computational analysis now further aid in screening and may help expand screening to rural areas through remote image analysis.