[Systematic screening for uterine cancer by exfoliative cytology: an account of 8 years activity in the cytology laboratory of the Jules Bordet Institute].
After 8 years experience of systematic screening for asymptomatic uterine cancer in 115 604 cases, the authors report the following conclusions: The cytological method is useful because it makes it possible to diagnose 2.2 per cent of cancerous lesions in an asymptomatic population. The percentage of false positives or false negatives is negligible in a laboratory with well trained staff. The disparity between the number of no invasive and invasive cervical epitheliomas indicates that a certain percentage of non invasive forms do not evolve into the invasive form. The number of cancers discovered has remained constant over the years; this could be explained in several ways : insufficient effort has been made to organize mass screening; the populations effected by the screening campaigns do not represent the high-risk groups (older women and the poorer social classes); slowly evolving cervical lesions are more likely to be detected than those that develop rapidly and have a less favourable prognosis. The efficiency of screening campaigns could be improved by providing better information to the public and to the medical profession on the advantages of the technique. In the absence of a precise biological definition of the intraepithelial cancerous lesion, systematic screening for the so-called dysplasic or intraepithelial lesions should be continued and adequate conservative treatment must be provided.
Gompel
C
C
Clinique de Dépistage, Laboratoire d'Anatomie Pathologique, Institut Jules Bordet, Centre des Tumeurs de l'Université Libre de Bruxelles, 1, rue Heger-Bordet, 1000 Bruxelles, Belgique.
Spetchinsky
A
A
D000328:Adult; D000367:Age Factors; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D002277:Carcinoma / Q000453:epidemiology; D003581:Cytodiagnosis / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D005260:Female; D006266:Health Education; D006293:Health Promotion; D006801:Humans; D008403:Mass Screening; D008875:Middle Aged; D009361:Neoplasm Invasiveness; D011379:Prognosis; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D012307:Risk Factors; D012923:Social Class; D002583:Uterine Cervical Neoplasms / Q000453:epidemiology; D014594:Uterine Neoplasms / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology*; D002578:Uterine Cervical Dysplasia / Q000453:epidemiology