title: Is it relevant to screen women younger than 26 years for precancerous and malignant cervical lesions ?
abstract: Cervical cancer is a serious health problem and most of the cases occur in less developed countries where effective screening systems are lacking. The aim of our present study is to delineate the age for early detection of precancerous cervical lesions. Cervical smears were screened (Pap test) over a period of four and half years from January 2000 to June 2004. The pattern of lesions was found to be almost same among the age groups of 26 to 35 years and 36 to 45 years. This result tempted us to think that detection of cervical lesions at an early age younger than 26 years may be an important step forward towards complete cure.
authors.affiliation: Department of Clinical Physiology, Nepal Medical College, Kathmandu, Kathmandu, Nepal. arijit_g@yahoo
authors.forename: Arijit
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Ghosh
authors.forename: Srinivas
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Rao
authors.forename: Tapas
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Pramanik
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000367:Age Factors; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008403:Mass Screening; D008875:Middle Aged; D018307:Neoplasms, Squamous Cell / Q000453:epidemiology*; D011230:Precancerous Conditions / Q000453:epidemiology*; D002583:Uterine Cervical Neoplasms / Q000453:epidemiology*; D014626:Vaginal Smears / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*