Simple test cuts deaths from cancer of cervix
Source: Agencies |
June 3, 2013, Monday
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A simple screening program for cervical cancer using vinegar and visual exams helped reduce deaths caused by the cancer by 31 percent in a group of 150,000 poor women in India, researchers said yesterday.
If implemented broadly, the screening program could lead to the prevention of 22,000 deaths from cervical cancer in India, and 72,000 deaths in the developing world each year, the team reported at the American Society of Clinical Oncology meeting in Chicago.
"We had a 31 percent reduction in cervical cancer death. That was very significant," Dr Surendra Shastri of Tata Memorial Hospital in Mumbai, India, who led the study and presented the findings at the meeting. The study also showed a 7 percent cut in deaths from any cause, although that finding was not statistically significant.
Cervical cancer is the leading cause of cancer deaths among women in India and in many countries of the developing world.
Shastri said currently there are no cervical cancer screening programs in India, mainly because PAP smear screening, the conventional test done among women in developed countries, is not possible because of issues like logistics, infrastructure and high costs.
"We hope our results will have a profound effect in reducing the burden of cervical cancer in India and around the world," Shastri said.
The study involved women selected from 20 slums in Mumbai. For the screening program, the team trained young women with at least a 10th grade education on how to apply the vinegar solution and evaluate the results.
As a result of these efforts, "the screening participation rates were 89 percent, huge for a country like India," Shastri told the briefing.
The study involved women aged 35 to 64 with no previous history of cancer.
If implemented broadly, the screening program could lead to the prevention of 22,000 deaths from cervical cancer in India, and 72,000 deaths in the developing world each year, the team reported at the American Society of Clinical Oncology meeting in Chicago.
"We had a 31 percent reduction in cervical cancer death. That was very significant," Dr Surendra Shastri of Tata Memorial Hospital in Mumbai, India, who led the study and presented the findings at the meeting. The study also showed a 7 percent cut in deaths from any cause, although that finding was not statistically significant.
Cervical cancer is the leading cause of cancer deaths among women in India and in many countries of the developing world.
Shastri said currently there are no cervical cancer screening programs in India, mainly because PAP smear screening, the conventional test done among women in developed countries, is not possible because of issues like logistics, infrastructure and high costs.
"We hope our results will have a profound effect in reducing the burden of cervical cancer in India and around the world," Shastri said.
The study involved women selected from 20 slums in Mumbai. For the screening program, the team trained young women with at least a 10th grade education on how to apply the vinegar solution and evaluate the results.
As a result of these efforts, "the screening participation rates were 89 percent, huge for a country like India," Shastri told the briefing.
The study involved women aged 35 to 64 with no previous history of cancer.
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