Sandeep Singh
Shitla sahai Institute of Medical Science, India
Title: Exploring the possibility of cervical cancer screening in resource-poor settings Via Tele-cytology approach: A proposed hypothesis
Biography
Biography: Sandeep Singh
Abstract
Carcinoma cervix remains the fourth most common cancer among women worldwide and leading cause of cancer mortality among women in countries lacking any screening program. Polarization of conventional cytology mainly in tertiary care center makes it totally unaffordable to Indian women, especially in the remote areas. Failure of this measure in decreasing the toll of disease suggests the need of a real time modality with door to door screening capability. For any screening modality to be effective it should be adequately sensitive, specific, reproducible, cheap, simple, affordable, and the most important is should be real time to ensure wide coverage and curtail loss to follow-up. Use of Telecytology approach for screening cervical cancer could overcome several hindrances faced by conventional cytology. Telecytology is the interpretation of cytology material at a distance using digital images. A mobile van housed with automated image capturing system and satellite equipment for transferring the data is the central theme behind this idea. Imaging of the cervical smear prepared at the screening site will be carried out and those images will be sent to the central cytopathology laboratories situated at the tertiary care center. This approach will nullify the need of trained cytopathologists in rural areas to carry out the screening process and would increase the feasibility of women to get screened in remote areas. There is possibility that the designed approach may not detect the entire women positive for the disease but if the desired objective is to diagnose patients maximally in resource poor setting, then this process offers an added advantage over no screening at all.