The National Medical Journal of India

Evaluation of cervical cancer screening during pregnancy in India: Human papillomavirus testing can change the paradigm

Background The World Health Organization’s call for elimination of cervical cancer envisages 70% screening coverage of women aged 35 and 45 years by an effective test. In India, this target seems unrealistic as awareness and access to cancer prevention services are poor. However, the institutional delivery rate is now >80%. We evaluated the acceptability and feasibility of human papillomavirus (HPV) testing and its role in screening during pregnancy. Methods This observational study recruited 275 pregnant women aged >25 years between 12 and 34 weeks of gestation for screening by cytology and HPV testing. Colposcopy was advised if either test was positive. Acceptability and feasibility were assessed by a questionnaire. Results Cytology and HPV reports were available for 269 subjects. The median age was 28 years and median parity was two. Only 98 (36.4%) had heard about carcinoma cervix. Awareness improved with education (p<0.001). On cytology, only 4 (1.5%) were abnormal (atypical squamous cells of undetermined significance 3; low-grade squamous intraepithelial lesion 1). The prevalence of high-risk HPV infection was 8.2% (22/269). On colposcopy, all had the Swede score <5. No high-grade cervical intraepithelial neoplasia or carcinoma was detected. Pre-procedure, 183 (68.0%) subjects expressed apprehension, post-procedure 114 (42.4%) of them had realized that their apprehensions were unfounded. Women found screening to be more uncomfortable after 28 weeks of gestation (n=26/68; 38.2%; p<0.001). Physicians found the cervix more difficult to visualize after 20 weeks of gestation (p<0.001). Conclusions HPV screening at 16–20 weeks of pregnancy is acceptable, feasible, and can greatly improve screening coverage in resource-limited settings. Pregnancy is a good opportunity to improve awareness of the screening programmes.

Population-based human papillomavirus testing: The new paradigm for cervical cancer screening

Survival analysis of second-line chemotherapy in platinum-sensitive relapsed ovarian cancer patients

Background Patients of ovarian cancer who respond to the initial chemotherapy (CT) regimen may respond again to the same drugs after relapse. We aimed to evaluate the survival of patients with recurrent ovarian cancer (ROC) treated with second-line CT drugs such as liposomal doxorubicin, paclitaxel/carboplatin, and/or bevacizumab. Methods Electronic medical records of ovarian cancer patients registered between January 2009 and December 2017 were reviewed to identify those with ROC. Data regarding demographics, clinical characteristics, treatment, recurrence, vital status at last contact, etc. were retrieved. The log-rank test was applied to compare the Kaplan-Meier curves for survival analysis. Results A total of 119 cases met the inclusion criteria. The median age at diagnosis and relapse was 49 and 51 years, respectively. The medians for progression-free survival (PFS) and post-relapse survival (PRS) were 19 (95% CI 10.34–21.66) months and 34 (95% CI 37.17–56.83) months, respectively. The PFS was significantly higher among premenopausal women (p=0.025). Patients treated with paclitaxel/carboplatin-based second-line CT had significantly higher PRS compared to those treated with liposomal doxorubicin/carboplatin (p<0.001). Overall survival was also significantly different between the stage groups (p=0.003). Conclusions The 5-year PFS rate in ROC treated with second-line CT is <20%. The rate of secondary recurrence is moderately high, leading to reduced survival. Paclitaxel/carboplatin-based second-line CT significantly increases PRS among ROC patients. The probability of mortality increases as the stage advances.