Cervical cancer screening in Greece

The aim of this study was to describe the state of the art in cervical canc er screening in Greece by presenting the two regionally organised screening programmes that currently operate in the country. Both programmes were ini tiated in 1991 and are partly funded by the European Union. The Ormylia scr eening programme covers the population of Halkidiki (Northern Greece), a pr edominantly rural area. The second programme covers the regions of Messinia and Ilia (Southern Greece). Both programmes are targeted at women aged 25- 64 years of age and a Papanicolaou (Pap) smear test is recommended every 2- 3 years. Electoral and municipal registries ale used to identify the target population and personal invitations an sent to the eligible women in the s creening programme. The Ormylia programme is based at the Centre 'Our Lady Who Loves Mankind', whereas mobile units are used by the Messinia and Ilia programme. Slide reading for the Ormylia programme is performed in the cyto logy laboratory of Alexandra Hospital ill Athens and epidemiological suppor t is provided by the Department of Hygiene and Epidemiology (Medical School , University of Athens). A specifically designed database is used for data recording. Over 80% of the target population in the region have already bee n screened. Communication of results is by means of a personal letter upon a negative result and in person upon a suspicions result. Quality assurance in both programmes is based on the European protocol. These two programmes are the sole organised cervical cancer screening activities ill Greece in the absence of a national programme. They employ well-trained personnel, th ey use modern equipment and have strict quality assurance procedures. (C) 2 000 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.