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Cervical cancer is one of the few cancers that can be detected in the pre-invasive stage. Thanks to such an early diagnosis, thanks to cytology, the disease is completely curable.
Polish women know that regular cytology can protect against cancer, but many of them do not apply this knowledge in practice. And the cytology test is free, accessible, takes little time and is enough to be performed every three years!
Every Polish woman aged 25-59 can benefit from the privilege of free cytology once every three years thanks to the Population Program for Prevention and Early Cervical Cancer Detection. If it turns out that she should report more frequently for cytology, she will be notified, and if abnormal cells are detected, she will be referred for further diagnosis. Cytology is commonly said to detect cervical cancer, but this is a simplification; cytology detects abnormal cells that may indicate that cancer is developing. Most importantly: thanks to regular cytology, the disease is detected at the pre-invasive stage, i.e. when the treatment is both effective and relatively short.
What does a Pap smear look like?
According to the survey, one of the barriers that discourage Polish women from performing cytology on a regular basis is the feeling of embarrassment and embarrassment. It is a fact that for the smear test it is necessary to undress from the panties, however, the smear examination takes place in a gynecology or obstetrics office at a specialist or medical specialist, who are obliged to respect the patient’s intimacy and maintain professional secrecy. In addition, it is short and painless. It consists in collecting a swab from the cervical disc and from the transition zone with a special brush, transferring the collected material to a dry slide and subjecting it, after staining, to microscopic evaluation. Pathologists are involved in the microscopic evaluation; the material can be obtained by a midwife or gynecologist.
5 reasons why you should have a Pap smear on a regular basis
- It’s worth taking care of yourself; preventive examinations are an investment (of time) in health, and therefore also in well-being and beauty
- The examination is short – about 15 minutes – and if it is correct, it is enough to do it every three years
- Cytology allows you to detect changes even before the disease develops – treatment is short and effective
- Cytology is free and available in centers all over the country without long waiting times
- Better, cheaper and easier to prevent than to cure!
At the request of the Ministry of Health, Kantar Millward Brown conducted a survey last year to answer questions related to attitudes towards pro-health activities among Polish residents, including the population of Polish women. The survey among women was carried out using the CATI method, using telephone interviews among 1061 women.
It shows that 60 percent. respondents who had heard about cancer prevention programs did not take advantage of them. Why? 47 percent answered that “they did not feel the need to do a test”, 14 percent. and stated that “when the action was organized, I did not have enough time”, 3 percent. declared that “I regularly perform cytology myself”.
At the same time, as much as 90 percent. of the surveyed women declared that regular smear tests “can and rather can protect against cancer”.
Reporting for pap smear tests offered under the screening program in Poland is increasing, but still low.
– This report is growing every year. The statistics of the Ministry of Health indicate that in 2016 it was 2006%, in 12 it was 2017%. – says Deputy Minister of Health Katarzyna Głowala.
Some Polish women perform such tests privately or as part of gynecological care paid for by the National Health Fund. In Poland, it is difficult to obtain reliable and unambiguous data on this group of Polish women – experts estimate that about half of the women still undergo regular pap smear tests. It is not enough and it is worthwhile for this group to grow, especially since the examples of other countries show that it is possible.
«Data collected in the USA shows that among American women, 83-86 percent. performs pap smear tests at least once every three years “, we read in the study” Assessment of women’s knowledge in the field of breast cancer and cervical cancer prevention “, published in 2016 in the journal Problems of Hygiene and Epidemiology. The authors of the paper from the Department and Department of Health Prevention of the Medical University of Poznań indicate that studies conducted in Poland before the introduction of the Population Program for Prevention and Early Cervical Cancer Detection (before 2007) indicated that approx. Polish women underwent cytology every three years, 30 percent. did research every year, and 14 percent. never had a Pap smear in his life.
Compared to the currently available tests, it is therefore better, but still too many women do not perform preventive cytology.
New method of cytology?
Perhaps a new method of cytology will be introduced soon. The Polish Society of Pathologists indicates that liquid cytology can be introduced as a standard. As for the procedure, the difference is that the collected material is transferred not to the slide, but to the liquid medium. As a result, the preparations obtained for testing are free from undesirable elements and impurities arising, among others, from due to drying. One of the advantages is also the fact that the once collected material can be used, if any abnormalities are found, for further tests, e.g. to check whether it contains oncogenic strains of HPV responsible for the formation of cervical cancer, without the need to call the woman for another examination.
– We are at the stage of analysis with the Agency for Health Technology Assessment and Tariffication of the latter method, but we are also preparing to modify the cancer program and conduct a pilot program in the field of cytological tests – announces Deputy Minister of Health Katarzyna Głowala.