2015年5月13日
A call to action in South Texas
BY隆达温德勒
Since its introduction in the 1940s, the Pap test has been successfully detecting abnormal cells in the cervix that, if left untreated, could lead to cancer. In fact, that success has led to a 70% drop in cervical cancer rates in the United States.
但在得克萨斯州四最南部的县衬得克萨斯州与墨西哥边境地区，宫颈癌死亡率比国家的其他国家要高30％。缺乏资源是罪魁祸首，说：Kathleen Schmeler, M.D., associate professor inGynecologic Oncology and Reproductive Medicine。
“Seventy percent of the population in the region is uninsured, and the number of public hospitals serving the uninsured is zero,” says Schmeler. “Residents there are at a huge disadvantage.”
It’s especially tragic when women in these underserved Rio Grande Valley counties are diagnosed with incurable cervical cancer, Schmeler says, because the disease is almost always 100% preventable when detected early with a simple Pap test or another test developed in 2011 that detects the presence of the human papillomavirus (HPV) — the cause of almost all cervical cancer cases.
“但是，由于缺乏保险和医疗设施为穷人，” Schmeler说，“女性在南得克萨斯无济于事自己这些简单的只有百分之五和救生筛选试验。”
为了弥补这一差距，癌症预防研究所德州188bet体育网址（CPRIT），其中规定国家资金用于癌症研究，预防和产品开发计划，已授予MD安德森超过$ 140万188bet体育网址的资助，以增加宫颈癌筛查和沿边境生活的妇女预防治疗。努力将针对卡梅伦，伊达尔戈，Willacy和斯塔尔县，其中有少40％的医生和一半的护士执业如得克萨斯州的其余部分。
With this latest round of funding, Houston doctors will teach Rio Grande Valley clinicians how to perform three medical procedures commonly employed when a patient’s Pap or HPV tests are abnormal: colposcopy (examination of the cervix with a special magnifying device), cervical biopsies (removal of a small sample of tissue from the cervix for further examination), and LEEP (loop electrosurgical excision procedure), which uses a thin, low-voltage electrified wire loop to cut out precancerous tissue.
The CPRIT grant also funds two programs that will bring additional health care workers and services to the region. One of those programs, Project ECHO (Extension for Community Healthcare Outcomes), enlists the services ofSu Clinica Familiar— a Federally Qualified Health Clinic serving the poorest segment of the Rio Grande Valley population. In addition, the University ofTexas School of Public Health’s Brownsvillecampus operates a mobile health van for the medically underserved along the border, and the德克萨斯大学医学分部加尔维斯敦发送医生的麦卡伦巡诊月1日执行LEEP程序。
“有在较低谷极少数供应商谁执行医疗服务不足的患者的这些程序，”艾伦·贝克，医学博士，项目ECHO主任。
了解更多关于MD安德森efforts to prevent cervical cancer。