A SELF-ADMINISTERED DEVICE FOR CERVICAL-CANCER SCREENING IN NORTHEASTTHAILAND

OBJECTIVE: To test a self-scraping device as a mass screening device a gainst a routine scraping method and to evaluate the acceptance of the self-scraping device by a group of rural females from Northeast Thail and. STUDY DESIGN: From a rural area of Northeast Thailand, 552 women were trained and motivated, through primary health cave structures, to participate in a cervical cancer screening exercise using a self-scra ping device. After one week, the same females were reexamined by gynec ologists using the routine scraping method. In both cases the specimen s were stained according to Papanicolaou. Through questionnaires the a cceptance of the self-scraping device was evaluated. RESULTS: Through the self-scraping method, 13 cases suspicious for malignancy were dete cted. Specimens obtained through examination by physicians confirmed 1 2 cases to be suspicious for malignancy. No false negative cases were found. In the detection of inflammation, the self-scraping method was not as accurate as examination by a physician. The device was accepted by the females who participated in the study. CONCLUSION: In the rura l areas of developing countries, where physicians and other trained me dical personnel are not often available to carry out regular screening tests on a population basis, the self-scraping method can be applied as an integral part of primary health care for a mass screening for ut erine cervical cancer.