VANCOUVER (CBC) - A cervical cancer screening program will be expanded to the rest of B.C. following a successful pilot project in Vancouver last month.

In May, the B.C. Cancer Agency arranged for 12 Lower Mainland medical clinics to offer Pap tests on a walk-in basis for one week.

The pilot project grew out of concern that not enough women were getting the Pap test, an examination that detects abnormal cells in the cervix before they become cancerous and when they are easily treated.

The agency is concerned not enough women, especially young women, are being tested on a regular basis.

The agency's figures show 34 per cent of women aged 20-29 are not regularly tested.

An estimated 144 women in B.C. were diagnosed with cervical cancer in 2007.

Project organizer Dr. Dirk Van Niekirk said the pilot was a success.

"We're quite encouraged by the success of the week," he said. "We were hoping to get 100 women in at least and we made that. We got 106 women."

Van Niekirk said the project also shed light on why women chose to have the procedure done at a clinic.

It was assumed many didn't have a family doctor, he said, but that was found to be false.

"Most actually reported that ... they used this opportunity because it was convenient or easy, so maybe the convenience of not having to make an appointment was important," Van Niekirk said.

The plan is to take the week-long program provincewide in February 2009.

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