scholarly journals P63 Improving cervical smear uptake through an Automated Voice Messages Reminder

BJS Open ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 5 (Supplement_1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Francesca Bladt ◽  
Felyx Wong ◽  
Francesca Bladt

Abstract National cervical screening programs have played a pivotal role in the prevention of cervical cancer. However, practices across the UK have reached an all-time low in cervical screening uptake. This study aimed to assess the efficacy of implementing an automated voice message reminder within the local general practice (GP) telephone triage system and explore the reasons which deter eligible patients away from cervical screening. A 20-second voice-message reminder in the telephone queue was played, addressing key risk factors along with a message from a child who lost his mother to cervical cancer. From the anonymised GP database, weekly new smear test bookings were monitored from 4 weeks prior until 2 weeks after the intervention was implemented. To qualitatively assess factors which deter patients away from screening, female patients were randomly sampled to fill in an anonymous questionnaire. The use of a low-cost 20 second voice message in the telephone queue across UK GP practices could be an effective method to increase cervical smear test coverage towards the national target of 80%. 35 questionnaire responses were received, main themes reported for not attending screening include embarrassment(37%), busy schedule(32%) and cultural differences(24%). In the week following the intervention, cervical smear tests increased more than 2-fold, from an average of 12 to 26 smears per week. This could be partly due to the convenient timing of voice recording, reminding them to book both appointments simultaneously and the child’s emotive message.

2021 ◽  
Vol 8 (4) ◽  
pp. 470-475
Author(s):  
Boinapalli Sudhakar ◽  
Vijaya Karra ◽  
Pamu Shiva Ramulu

The objective of present study to find out women for precancerous lesions with the help of pap smear test as early identification marker. Determine the percentage of cervical cancer in relationship with demographic, education and occupation. To find out pap smear effectiveness in various infections. To find out correlation pap smear findings with symptoms.This is a cross-sectional study involving the screening of women from the rural population of Siddipet district for the assessment of health status using pap smear test who have attended the outpatient department of Obstetrics and Gynecology conducted during the period of August 2019 to May 2021. The present study included 1500 Pap smears, of which the most common abnormality was inflammatory smear, which is followed by atrophic smear. Among all the study respondent’s majority (64.5%) of the women were home makers and not working, remaining participants were either self employed or working women. Percentage of abnormal smear reports was reported in group 2 (31-40 years) subjects followed by group 3 (41-50 years) women. In 22 patients, Atypical Squamous Cell of Undetermined Significance (ASCUS) was observed. The present study reported very less cervical cancer prevalence in our study population.Pap smear testing is a sensitive and effective screening test which can be used for identification of precancerous epithelial lesions. Pap smear test should be recognized as a routine screening method to decrease Mortality and Morbidity due to the cervical cancer. This study also regard us as paps smear is a gold standard for cervical screening. This study also suggests that every woman above the age 30 years should undergo screening programs for cervical cancers. So Morbidity and Mortality due to cervical cancers can be prevented by early identification of cervical cancer by doing screening at regular intervals.


2012 ◽  
Vol 2012 ◽  
pp. 1-11 ◽  
Author(s):  
Charlotte A. Brown ◽  
Johnannes Bogers ◽  
Shaira Sahebali ◽  
Christophe E. Depuydt ◽  
Frans De Prins ◽  
...  

Since the Pap test was introduced in the 1940s, there has been an approximately 70% reduction in the incidence of squamous cell cervical cancers in many developed countries by the application of organized and opportunistic screening programs. The efficacy of the Pap test, however, is hampered by high interobserver variability and high false-negative and false-positive rates. The use of biomarkers has demonstrated the ability to overcome these issues, leading to improved positive predictive value of cervical screening results. In addition, the introduction of HPV primary screening programs will necessitate the use of a follow-up test with high specificity to triage the high number of HPV-positive tests. This paper will focus on protein biomarkers currently available for use in cervical cancer screening, which appear to improve the detection of women at greatest risk for developing cervical cancer, including Ki-67,p16INK4a, BD ProEx C, and Cytoactiv HPV L1.


2020 ◽  
Vol 15 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Wei Zhang ◽  
Hui Du ◽  
Xia Huang ◽  
Chun Wang ◽  
Xianzhi Duan ◽  
...  

Abstract Objective The aim of this research was to evaluate independently the performance of a new isothermal amplification assay for cervical cancer screening compared to two previously validated PCR-based assays and histologic endpoints. Methods This is a sub-study from the Chinese multi-center screening trial (CHIMUST). The self-collected and clinician-collected specimens stored in PreservCyt at − 4 °C from 6042 women with complete data were tested with the AmpFire assay. These specimens had been previously tested with Cobas and SeqHPV assays. In the primary study all patients with an abnormal test were referred to colposcopy where all had directed and/or random biopsies plus ECC. No additional patients were called back based on the AmpFire results. Results 6042/6619 women had complete data (mean age 44.1). There were 57 cases of CIN 2, 35 cases of CIN 3 and 2 cancers. The sensitivity for CIN2+ and CIN3+ were similar among the three assays (both direct and self-collected). For the specificities in all categories (CIN2+/CIN3+ and self and direct collection), isothermal amplification assay was either equal to or more specific than Cobas but consistently less specific than SeqHPV. Conclusion The AmpFire HPV assay showed similar sensitivity to Cobas and SeqHPV for CIN2+ and CIN3+ on both self and clinician-collections (P>0.05), with good specificity. The speed, low cost, and simplicity of this assay will make it particularly suited for low and middle resource settings. Its accuracy with self-collection makes it applicable for mass screening programs.


2019 ◽  
Vol 13 (11) ◽  
pp. 526-533
Author(s):  
Ian Peate

Screening for cervical cancer saves lives. This article provides an overview of cervical screening programmes offered by the NHS. All four countries in the UK provide a cervical cancer screening programme. Cervical screening identifies apparently healthy women who may be at increased risk of a disease or condition; this then provides an opportunity for earlier treatment or better informed decisions. In some instances, the healthcare assistant and assistant practitioner (HCA and AP) may be needed in order to provide assistance with the screening procedure, offering the woman physical and psychological support. This article offers the reader an overview of the cervix, along with a brief description of signs and symptoms of cervical cancer.


Cancers ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (4) ◽  
pp. 1053 ◽  
Author(s):  
David Hawkes ◽  
Marco H. T. Keung ◽  
Yanping Huang ◽  
Tracey L. McDermott ◽  
Joanne Romano ◽  
...  

In 2018, there were an estimated 570,000 new cases of cervical cancer globally, with most of them occurring in women who either had no access to cervical screening, or had not participated in screening in regions where programs are available. Where programs are in place, a major barrier for women across many cultures has been the requirement to undergo a speculum examination. With the emergence of HPV-based primary screening, the option of self-collection (where the woman takes the sample from the vagina herself) may overcome this barrier, given that such samples when tested using a PCR-based HPV assay have similar sensitivity for the detection of cervical pre-cancers as practitioner-collected cervical specimens. Other advantages of HPV-based screening using self-collection, beyond the increase in acceptability to women, include scalability, efficiency, and high negative predictive value, allowing for long intervals between negative tests. Self-collection will be a key strategy for the successful scale up of cervical screening programs globally in response to the WHO call for all countries to work towards the elimination of cervical cancer as a public health problem. This review will examine self-collection for HPV-based cervical screening including the collection devices, assays and possible routine laboratory processes considering how they can be utilized in cervical screening programs.


2002 ◽  
Vol 15 (3) ◽  
pp. 173-185 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sallyanne Broughton

Due to the complex nature of the cervical screening for women with learning disabilities, this literature review has several different strands. The aim of which is to give a general overview of the literature available about women with learning disabilities and cervical screening. Discussing key issues in relation to uptake, access and risk factors associated with cervical screening. The role of the learning disability nurse in supporting access to cervical screening services within primary care will be explored. The notion that anxiety and a woman's capacity to consent impacts on her accessing cervical screening services and ultimately undergoing a cervical smear test, will be examined. Relaxation techniques with regard to ascertaining which techniques are more effective when used with individuals with a learning disability will also be discussed.


2018 ◽  
Vol 4 ◽  
pp. e154 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kelwin Fernandes ◽  
Davide Chicco ◽  
Jaime S. Cardoso ◽  
Jessica Fernandes

Cervical cancer remains a significant cause of mortality all around the world, even if it can be prevented and cured by removing affected tissues in early stages. Providing universal and efficient access to cervical screening programs is a challenge that requires identifying vulnerable individuals in the population, among other steps. In this work, we present a computationally automated strategy for predicting the outcome of the patient biopsy, given risk patterns from individual medical records. We propose a machine learning technique that allows a joint and fully supervised optimization of dimensionality reduction and classification models. We also build a model able to highlight relevant properties in the low dimensional space, to ease the classification of patients. We instantiated the proposed approach with deep learning architectures, and achieved accurate prediction results (top area under the curve AUC = 0.6875) which outperform previously developed methods, such as denoising autoencoders. Additionally, we explored some clinical findings from the embedding spaces, and we validated them through the medical literature, making them reliable for physicians and biomedical researchers.


2020 ◽  
Vol 38 (15_suppl) ◽  
pp. e18020-e18020
Author(s):  
Dilyara Kaidarova ◽  
Raikhan Bolatbekova ◽  
Alma Zhylkaidarova ◽  
Tolkyn Sadykova ◽  
Yerlan Kukubassov ◽  
...  

e18020 Background: Cervical cancer is the second most common cancer in women worldwide, where the majority of registered patients are in developing countries. Screening programs in developed countries have reduced morbidity and mortality from cervical cancer by more than 2 times. Cervical cancer (CC) is the most common gynecological cancer in Kazakhstan (KZ). Standardized incidence rate of CC was 18.2 per 100,000, while the mortality rate was 6.2 per 100,000, in 2019. The National Cervical Screening program in KZ uses cytology (Pap test) from 2008. Screening program funded by the State budget. In 2016, Experts of imPACT Mission analyzed the CC screening and made recommendations for improvement. Since 2018 target age of CC screening expanded to 30-70 years and shortened the interval to 4 years, strengthened the control of patients with pre-cancerous pathology. Until 2018, people came to a fixed age; today we start CC screening within the target age at any age at the time of the first visit. The purpose of this study is to analyze cytological screening results in KZ after imPACT recommendations. Methods: Coverage, the number of screened women, the level of pre-cancer detection and cervical cancer during screening have been obtained from specific reports (form № 025, № 08) for 2008-2019. Results: The total number of screened women was in 6.775.975. There is a decrease in the number of screened women by 32% from 2008 to 2017. Since improvement of CC screening we increased coverage from 49.9% in 2017 (abs. number 409.124) to 89% in 2019 (abs. number 954.322). According to the results of screening, 2603 cases of CC were registered in 12 years. Analysis of screening results showed a marked increase in the detection of CC with an increasing by 67%. The persentage of registered cases of ASH+HSIL increased from 0.136% to 0.673%. Conclusions: there has been an increase in the coverage by screening of the target population since the screening update. During the study period, there has been an improvement in the detection of precancerous pathology and cancer in the early stage. Despite the positive results of screening, sufficient coverage by screening, certain successes in detecting the initial stage of CC, mortality rate from CC remain high, which makes it necessary to improve the screening of CC in KZ through the introduction of HPV-screening.


Sexual Health ◽  
2010 ◽  
Vol 7 (3) ◽  
pp. 376 ◽  
Author(s):  
Joseph Tota ◽  
Salaheddin M. Mahmud ◽  
Alex Ferenczy ◽  
François Coutlée ◽  
Eduardo L. Franco

Human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccination is expected to reduce the burden of cervical cancer in most settings; however, it is also expected to interfere with the effectiveness of screening. In the future, maintaining Pap cytology as the primary cervical screening test may become too costly. As the prevalence of cervical dysplasias decreases, the positive predictive value of the Pap test will also decrease, and, as a result, more women will be referred for unnecessary diagnostic procedures and follow-up. HPV DNA testing has recently emerged as the most likely candidate to replace cytology for primary screening. It is less prone to human error and much more sensitive than the Pap smear in detecting high-grade cervical lesions. Incorporating this test would improve the overall quality of screening programs and allow spacing out screening tests, while maintaining safety and lowering costs. Although HPV testing is less specific than Pap cytology, this issue could be resolved by reserving the latter for the more labour-efficient task of triaging HPV-positive cases. Because most HPV-positive smears would contain relevant abnormalities, Pap cytology would be expected to perform with sufficient accuracy under these circumstances. HPV Pap triage would also provide a low-cost strategy to monitor long-term vaccine efficacy. Although demonstration projects could start implementing HPV testing as a population screening tool, more research is needed to determine the optimal age to initiate screening, the role of HPV typing and other markers of disease progression, and appropriate follow-up algorithms for HPV-positive and Pap-negative women.


2009 ◽  
Vol 19 (3) ◽  
pp. 412-416 ◽  
Author(s):  
Peter N. Abotchie ◽  
Navkiran K. Shokar

Background:Cervical cancer is the most incident cancer and the leading cause of cancer mortality in women in Ghana. Currently, little is known about Ghanaian women's knowledge and beliefs about cervical cancer screening, yet this information is essential to the success of cervical cancer screening programs. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to describe the knowledge and beliefs of female university college students in Ghana.Methods:A cross-sectional survey among college women in a university in Ghana elicited information about sociodemographics, knowledge and beliefs, and acceptability of cervical cancer screening, screening history, and sexual history. Bivariate analyses were conducted to identify factors associated with screening.Results:One hundred forty women were recruited; the age range was 20 to 35 years. The prior Papanicolaou (Pap) screening rate was 12.0%. The women were unaware of local screening initiatives, and only 7.9% were aware of the link between human papillomavirus and cervical cancer. The most prevalent barriers were lack of awareness that the purpose of Pap screening is to diagnose cancer, concerns about what others may think, and lack of information about how to obtain screening services. Although women perceived the benefits of screening, only about half perceived themselves to be at risk. Women received few screening cues. Three barriers were negatively associated with screening in bivariate analyses: lack of belief that cancer is diagnosed by cervical screening, belief that Pap test is painful, and belief that the test will take away virginity.Conclusion:New screening programs in Ghana should address these barriers and increase screening cues to the public.


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