Twenty-one women were examined for signs of cervical cancer when the Ministry of Health hosted its Visual Inspection with Ascetic Acid (VIA) clinic at the Parliament Office recently.
The clinic was held as part of the Cervical Cancer Awareness activities, under the theme ‘Early detection saving lives,’ a press release from the Government Information Agency (GINA) said.
Medex Lurlene Ramsoondar, who is attached to the VIA Clinic at the Georgetown Public Hospital, said cervical cancer is almost 100 per cent preventable and she urges women between the ages of 20-49 years to undertake the screening.
VIA entails applying vinegar to the cervix which will cause a reaction that will allow medical personnel to diagnose whether there is any evidence of disease. VIA testing and cryotheraphy are offered at most hospitals; in areas such as Bartica, Suddie and Mahaicony mobile teams are dispatched.
“These first-line treatment methods are 90-95 percent effective,” GINA said. It allows women to be screened and treated in a single visit unlike other medical examinations such as the pap smear which may take some time before test results can be issued.
Women who test negative are urged to retake the test in five years.
“We have saved a lot of lives. At the pre-cancer stage a person would not be aware, it is only at the third or fourth stage that the signs will began to show,” Ramsoondar said. These signs include bleeding after coitus, unpleasant odour and pains. She added that while a cure for cervical cancer is not currently available, much can be done to decrease the number of lives lost to this disease.
She further explained that in cases where cancer is suspected, a biopsy will be done and sent to the laboratory and the results are usually available within three weeks. Subsequently, the patient will be referred to the Oncology Clinic for further treatment, where services are available free of cost.
GINA said since 2009, over 26,000 women were screened with 150 suspected cancer cases some of which were diagnosed by the gynaecology and oncology department, and 2500 women who tested positive were treated immediately.
