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I would be fascinated to hear from anybody who can tell me why these
screening catastrophes always seem to occur in cervical cancer
screening....>>
Because
1. It is a test used for screening and is part of a so-called screening
process but the cervical cytology programme does not meet the criteria for
a screening process. Which is to say, it should not be used in that way.
2. Therefore there will be umpteen problems--the more common of which we
learn to live with such as recalls for insufficient and inflammation---and
the less common make the news.
3. There is too much inter-observer (and possibly intra-observer) variation
for smear examination to ever be anywhere near perfect.
4. It is a process which owes its continued existence to the established
pathology interests who work in it, to the politicians who see it as A Good
Thing and to the feminists who see it as evening up the score. Forget about
young mens' balls.
5. And as someone else said, sitting looking at slides for several hours
each day knowing that very few will show any significant abnormality has to
be arse-numblingly boring.
Regards
Declan
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