Telemedicine-Based Community Screening of Cervical Cancer Krishnan Lakshmi1, Bapat Anita1, Sakhilkar Reshma1, Raje Sachin1, Gaikwad Amol2, Busheri Laleh1, Dixit Santosh1, Koppiker C B1 1Prashanti Cancer Care Mission, Pune, India 2Tata Trusts, Mumbai, India Online published on 29 December, 2017. Abstract Introduction Every year an estimated 122, 844 women in India are newly diagnosed with cervical cancer, the 2nd most frequent cancer in India. Visual Inspection with Acetic acid (VIA) is a simple and low-cost cervical cancer screening test for a community based programme, but suffers from subjectivity as it is usually performed by minimally trained paramedics. Purpose To make quality assured cervical cancer screening test accessible to the community through a mobile technology intervention. Methodology A team of trained health personnel reaches out to women in the Pune community and imparts awareness. Consent and relevant medical information are collected from eligible women and VIA is performed by well-trained paramedics (nurses in this project) in mobile screening camps. To improve performance of VIA, digital images of cervix are captured using a portable colposcope, and are synced to a cloud system. The images and information are then accessed and evaluated by the gynecologist at the tertiary clinic. Women with abnormal screening results are requested to come to the clinic for further follow up and investigations. Results Between March to November 2016, 2294 women were screened out of which 11.99% were detected with cervical abnormalities. 86.27% of them were screened for cervical cancer for the first time in their lives. Conclusion Telemedicine-based community cervical cancer screening approach appears feasible. In our model, the quality of VIA, usually interpreted by a paramedic, was superior as every single case was interpreted by a gynecologist, who would otherwise not be accessible in mobile camps. Top Keywords Cervical cancer, Digital VIA, Screening, Telemedicine. Top |