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Biomedical subjects

J Patnick

Publications and source records attributed to J Patnick.

33 records · Page 2Linked to original sources
PubMed2000

Breast and cervical screening for women in the United Kingdom.

Two fully fledged National Health Service cancer screening programmes are currently available in the United Kingdom: breast and cervical screening for women. Breast screening was introduced for women aged 50 years and older, following the publication of the Forrest report in 1986. It has recently been calculated that the breast screening programme in England and Wales has been responsible for around a third of the fall in the death rate from breast cancer among women aged between 55 and 69 years. The cervical screening programme did not have such a clear start and began rather haphazardly in the 1960s. The programme now prevents around 2000 cases of cervical cancer and saves around 1300 lives each year. The duty of the health professional is no longer seen as being to persuade a woman to accept screening, but rather to provide her with accurate information about screening and to assist her in understanding it.

Adult↗
PubMed1995

Achievable standards, benchmarks for reporting and criteria for evaluating cervical cytopathology.

The cervical smear test, like all screening tests, is not 100% effective in detecting abnormality. In order to prevent 80-90% of invasive cancers, cervical screening requires cervical smears to be taken competently at regular intervals and correctly interpreted. With laboratories following the guidelines in this report, the NHSCSP should be able to meet the Health of the Nation target to reduce the incidence of invasive cervical cancer to less than 12 cases per 100 000 women in the UK by the year 2000.

Biomarkers, Tumor↗
PubMed1995

Results from the NHS breast screening programme 1990-1993.

OBJECTIVE: To present results from the NHS breast screening programme (NHSBSP) for the three year period 1990 to 1993, and to examine the extent to which interim targets are being met. METHODS: Data have been collated from all screening programmes in the United Kingdom on standard "Korner" returns, supplemented for the year 1991/92 by data from the radiology quality assurance programme. Most of the data refer to the prevalent screening round, but some data on rescreening are also available. RESULTS: The total cancer detection rate at prevalent screens was 6.0/1000, 18% being in situ cancers; the detection rate of invasive cancers < or = 10 mm in diameter was 1.3/1000, but data on size were missing for 12% of cancers. Referral rates were significantly lower for programmes using two view mammography at the prevalent screen than for those using single view, and cancer detection rates were significantly higher. For prevalent screens over the three year period, 70% of programmes had a referral rate of < or = 7%, 87% had a benign biopsy rate of < or = 5/1000, and 79% had a cancer detection rate of > or = 5/1000. By contrast, only 30% of programmes appeared to meet the target detection rate of > 1.5/1000 for invasive cancers < or = 10 mm in diameter. CONCLUSIONS: While the majority of interim targets are being met by the NHSBSP, the rate of detection of small invasive cancers requires careful monitoring. Collection of more accurate data on size of cancers and interval cancer rates will give a better indication of progress towards the target mortality reduction.

Aged↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Sampling, sampling errors and specimen preparation.

To obtain an adequate cervical smear for making a correct cytologic diagnosis, smear taking, laboratory handling and interpretation must be optimal. Many people are involved, and only by a combined effort of all links can this target be seriously approached: the smear takers will have to be open minded about technical improvements and read the morphologic descriptions cautiously; in the laboratory, cytotechnicians and physicians will have to challenge themselves and each other. It is mandatory to discard specimens that do not meet general standards of adequacy. At present a host of new techniques are being implemented. It is not feasible for all laboratories to be engaged in testing these new methods, but we are all requested to follow the development the best we can and switch to new ways when justified. Our working conditions are very different; therefore, it is our professional responsibility and plight to respond at the right time. So far the conclusion is that the conventional Pap smear is the international standard of care for the diagnosis of cervical cancer precursers in cancer screening programs. Certainly, this may change within a very short time. Liquid-based techniques, and in particular HPV technologies, are just around the corner.

Cell Biology↗