TITLE. The importance of secondary prevention of cervical cancer. OBJECTIVES. To determine which of the individual methods of secondary prevention (Pap test, colposcopy, target biopsy, excochleation and HPV testing) has the highest sensitivity and specificity for the detection of preinvasive lesions and prevention of cervical cancer. STUDY DESIGN. Retrospective professional research study. PARTICIPANTS AND METHODS. The subjects were patients at the Clinic of Gynecology and obstetrics, Clinical hospital center Osijek, who were treated in the past five years in the period from 2010 to 2014. Data was collected from the clinic’s colposcopy records. The study included 60 women. RESULTS. The average age at which preinvasive cervical lesions appear was 39. 62 % of subjects do not use contraception. Most of them gave birth to two children (42 %). Pap test results show that the greatest number of subjects had CIN III. HPV testing was done only in 22 % of the subjects. Statistical analysis showed that there is a statistically significant correlation between colposcopy results during the first examination and colposcopic changes during follow-up, and between the PH findings of targeted biopsies and the Pap test, and colposcopy results during the first examination and colposcopic changes during further monitoring. The Pap test has a sensitivity of 61,54 %, specificity of 87,23 %, and diagnostic accuracy of 81,67 %, and the colposcopy has a sensitivity of 69,23 %, specificity of 97,83 %, and diagnostic accuracy of 91,67 %. CONCLUSION. Colposcopy and the Pap test, which are used as methods of secondary prevention of cervical cancer, have a crucial role in the detection of preinvasive lesions of cervical cancer. The high sensitivity and diagnostic accuracy of both tests show, and thus very well predict the histological findings.