According to Pap smear guidelines, at what age can screening be discontinued if criteria are met?

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The key concept is knowing when Pap smear screening can be stopped after a long stretch of negative results. If a patient is around the mid-60s to 70 and has had adequate prior negative screening, ongoing cytology screening is not routinely necessary. For cytology alone, adequate prior screening means three consecutive normal Pap tests with no abnormal results in the past 10 years. When those conditions are met, stopping screening is appropriate because the risk of undetected cervical cancer becomes very low.

This aligns with the age range of 65 to 70 years and the requirement of three consecutive normal cytology results with no prior abnormal tests in the past decade. The other options either suggest stopping too early, or rely on insufficient negative results or shorter timeframes that don’t meet the adequacy criteria.