Cervical cancer still No-1 women's killer
For Thai women cervical cancer remains the No-1 killer due to a lack of screening and of medical specialists, experts said yesterday
More than 6,000 new cases are reported each year and about 50 per cent are fatal, said Dr Somyos Charoensak, deputy public health permanent secretary. On average, nine women per day die of cervical cancer, he said, adding that the highest incidence of this type of cancer was found in the North, where about 25 in every 100,000 women had the disease. "The Pap smear test has been used to test women for cervical cancer for more than five decades but this cancer remains the highest cause of death among Thai women," said Dr Kobchitt Limpaphayom, former secretary-general of the Royal Thai College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists. This suggests that the test is not entirely effective in terms of coverage and there is a need for amore efficient method of diagnosing cancer so people can receive treatment earlier, said Kobchitt, who is known as the pioneer of the Pap smear test in Thailand. One good alternative to the Pap smear, which requires a specially trained expert and takes up to a month to get the result, is a test called Visual Inspection with Acetic Acid (VIA), said Dr Pornsom Hutacharoen, president of the Thai Gynaecological Cancer Society. Unlike the Pap smear, VIA requires only a trained nurse to conduct the test and can be done almost anywhere, Pornsom said. In addition, the test has a high accuracy rate of up to 55.7 per cent compared to only 29.5 per cent for the Pap smear, said Pornsom. The Public Health Ministry has piloted a cervical screening project using VIA in addition to the Pap smear in 16 provinces. Adding the VIA test extended the cover to a considerably larger number of the target population, women aged between 30 and 45. Further, the cost of the VIA test is about three times lower than that of the Pap smear, said Dr Sophon Mekhathon, Health Department deputy director-general. Despite the increased coverage, the death rate from cervical cancer is still high due an unsatisfactory system of referring diagnosed patients to facilities where the necessary medical resources are available, said Pornsom.
Arthit Khwankhom The Nation
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