Cervical cancer is the third most common cancer in women worldwide. About half a million women hear such a diagnosis every year, including more than 3,800 - in Poland. One of the lowest five-year survival rates in Europe is recorded in our country. Experts agree - prevention is limping along, so that cancer is detected too late. Because of this, treatment becomes much less effective.
Prevention is limping along. Less than one in five women come in for a cytology.
Published Feb. 6, 2024 15:00
fot. Piotr Wójcik
- This year, 100,000 Polish women and men will die of cancer. The vast majority of these people could still be alive if they had seen a doctor early enough," stresses Katarzyna Piekarska, chairwoman of the Parliamentary Team for Cancer Prevention - RAK STOP.
Early diagnosis is also key for cervical cancer.
- We are working to ensure that all options, such as cytological testing, can be replaced by modern methods of diagnosis. We are looking forward to a positive opinion from AOTMiT for HPV-DNA tests, which could become a standard for prevention. This is insanely important, because these tests are very precise, allowing us to detect the human papilloma virus even before the disease develops," says Krystyna Wechmann, president of the Federation of Amazon Associations.
Data from the Polish Coalition of Oncology Patients shows that regular HPV-DNA testing can reduce the risk of cervical cancer by up to 93 percent if the test is performed annually. Meanwhile, only 17 percent of at-risk women show up for cytology, which is available for screening. This is because there is a lack of education about the role of prevention in early cancer diagnosis.
- The time for prevention is actually over. We've been meeting for many years, talking about the importance of screening, and only 30-40 percent of people who don't have symptoms do it. Our goal is a minimum of 75 percent, so we have a lot of work to do. It is in our hands to convince everyone that preventive examinations should not be feared. The saying that if I'm healthy, I don't need checkups is persistent. We need to create awareness that this is a misconception, already in children," argues Professor Beata Jagielska, director of the National Institute of Oncology.
It is worth mentioning that Poland has about 15 percent higher incidence of cervical cancer and about 70 percent higher mortality from this type of cancer.
