Bay Area doctors are leading a campaign to bring gay men into their offices for a basic exam that women have been enduring for decades -- the Pap test.

The goal is to push back rising rates of anal cancer, a preventable disease that has increased 37 percent in the United States since a decade ago, when the total number of cancer cases increased only 1 percent.

Anal Pap smears would help doctors spot precancerous lesions and wipe them out before they have a chance to turn malignant, say supporters of widespread use of the exam among gay men. But nationwide, doctors have been reluctant to embrace the screening test, partly because there is disagreement over whether it's effective or even necessary.

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Like cervical cancer, anal cancer is caused by the human papilloma virus, or HPV, a sexually transmitted disease that will infect the vast majority of adults in their lifetime. Most people are able to shake off HPV without ever knowing they have it. But a small group of men and women will get lesions that could turn into cancer in the cervix, vulva, anus or penis.