Pages 649-651 in G. Pétursdóttir et al., eds. Circumpolar Health 93. Proceedings of the 9th International Congress on Circumpolar Health, Reykjavík, Iceland, June 20-25, 1993. Arctic Medical Research. 1994;53(Suppl.2)
Institute of Forensic Pathology, Copenhagen University, Denmark
Department of Pathology, Rigshospitalet, Copenhagen, Denmark
Source
Pages 649-651 in G. Pétursdóttir et al., eds. Circumpolar Health 93. Proceedings of the 9th International Congress on Circumpolar Health, Reykjavík, Iceland, June 20-25, 1993. Arctic Medical Research. 1994;53(Suppl.2)
Cervical cytological screening among Greenlandic women has failed to reduce the incidence of invasive cervical cancer, one of the world's highest. During 1976-1991, three-year screening coverage of women over 14 years of age increased from 20% to 40%. During the latest five years detection rates for all precursor lesions were considerably lower compared with the previous ten years, most pronounced for carcinoma in situ. Most cancer patients had slipped through the system because of failure to be screened at all (57%) or failure of adequate follow-up (23%). No evidence of rapidly progressing tumors was found. Cancer patients who were not followed up reflected an inadequate follow-up management of women with abnormal smear results during the entire study period. A nationwide, centrally organized mass screening programme is recommended.