Early diagnosis of cervical cancers. Our experience at the Rural Cancer Registry, Barshi, India.

In the cervical cancer cases registered at the Cancer Hospital at Barshi, India during 1988-90, 99 of the 105 cases were clinically staged (Total number of cases registered: 136). The annual number of cases were too few for a comparison of stage distribution between the registry years. However, comparison of the proportions of early cases (FIGO Ib, IIa & IIb) in each year, with the corresponding proportion in a large series at the Tata Memorial Hospital (TMH) in Bombay in 1988, showed that the proportions of early cases in 1988 & 1989 (0.31 and 0.35 respectively) were similar to that (0.30) in TMH but in 1990, it (0.50) was significantly higher (P < 0.01). The shift to early stages observed three years after the inception of the Registry is most likely due to the registry activity which involved inter-personal contact with the community and motivation of the symptomatics to undergo a medical investigation. These activities were designed to overcome the adverse conditions for cancer registration prevailing in the rural population. It is suggested that to achieve early diagnosis similar activities be incorporated in the initial phase of a cervical cancer control programme in the country, where cervical cancer is not only the predominant cancer in women but also the cases generally present themselves in advanced stages.

Experience in screening for cervical cancer in rural areas of Barsi Tehsil (Maharashtra).

The organization of cancer detection camps is gaining popularity in our country and it is therefore necessary to evaluate the effectiveness of this approach in the early diagnosis and treatment of cancer. This to our knowledge has not been done. This report analyses an experience in screening for cervical cancer in rural areas of Barsi Tehsil (Maharashtra). The Barsi Tehsil consists of 134 villages with a population of 34,080 women above the age of 30 years (1982-1987). Of these 2,846 were screened through a series of cancer detection camps between 1982 and 1987. The results of the cytological screening in these women have been presented. An evaluation of the camp approach was carried out by the Population based Cancer Registry set up under the National Cancer Registry Programme (Indian Council of Medical Research) in Barsi, Paranda and Bhum tehsils. It was shown that acceptance of cytological screening was poor, thereby indicating that the mere holding of camps was not in itself sufficient to motivate the people, to subject themselves to the Pap smear. Certain suggestions which would appreciably increase the acceptance of cytological screening have been put forward.