Improved cervical cancer diagnosis for women

Update: 12:30PM A NEW piece of equipment donated to a Fiji hospital will help reduce the risk of cervical cancer misdiagnosis for Fijian women.

The Colonial War Memorial Hospital in Suva has bought a new colposcope with $A12,500 donated by an Australian Rotary Club in Wodonga.

A colposcope is a magnifying instrument that allows examination of the cervix for pre-cancerous changes.

Dr John Salmon, an Australian gynaecologist, has told Radio Australia's Pacific Beat?the colposcope is important for women's health as it will improve diagnosis.

"It allows the gynaecologist to get a very clear, magnified view of the cervix," Dr Salmon said.

"This is used to diagnose the extent of pre-cancer of the cervix and allows us to do biopsies and also, treat these disease," he said.

He says the colposcope does not replace the traditional papsmear but reinforces the results of the diagnosis.

"The papsmear identifies abnormal cells and the next step is a colposcope," Dr Salmon said.

"A colposcope determines if the abnormalities are in actual fact there, how bad it is and what the optimal treatment is."

Dr Salmon, who spent a year working at the Colonial War Memorial Hospital, says the new colposcope replaces an older one that is about 15 to 18 years old.

"It was basically unserviceable, it couldn't be fixed and had cracks on the lenses and wasn't stable anymore," Dr Salmon said.

"If you put it into position and you turn away to grab an instrument, the thing (colposcope) will wave away, 10 or 20 inches away from where it should be.

"It drove me mad when I used it. That's one of the reasons why I thought with this, maybe we can make an effort to replace it.

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/fijitimes/~3/BuGkNBh8QWk/story.aspx

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