Abstract

GARCIA-SOTO, Germán; PACHON-RINCON, Juan de Jesús; SMITH MENESES-CUBIDES, Ronald  and  ZULETA-TOBON, John Jairo. Cervical cancer: six years’ experience in a Colombian teaching hospital. Rev Colomb Obstet Ginecol [online]. 2007, vol.58, n.1, pp.21-27. ISSN 0034-7434.

Objective: the research was aimed at describing the health and socio-demographic characteristics of patients suffering from invasive cervical cancer who were attended at the San Vicente de Paul teaching hospital (SVPTH) in Medellin, Colombia, from 1997 to 2002. Study design: this was a retrospective cohort study. Population: every female patient attending SVPTH having a confirmed diagnosis of invasive cervical cancer 1997-2002 was included in the study. Results: a total of 735 patients from 11 Colombian departments (mainly Antioquia, Chocó and Córdoba) were attended. 20.6% of these patients had a low educational level, most coming from poor areas. 24.5% had never sought having a Pap smear and only 20% had been diagnosed in stage I. The disease presented clinical behaviour similar to that described in previous studies. Conclusions: a high level of poverty, low educational level, limited Pap smear application and predominance of the disease’s late stages was noticed in the cohort of patients being studied. Although SVPTH is a teaching hospital attending poor people, this scenario should call attention to a catastrophic disease which can and must be prevented.

Keywords : uterine cervical neoplasms; cytology; prevalence; Colombia.

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