Women have long wait for diagnosis

Press, 9 November 1988, Page 23

Women have long wait for diagnosis

PA Auckland Women who may have carcinoma in situ are waiting 18 months for diagnosis at National Women’s Hospital and a year at Middlemore Hospital in Auckland, Doctors fear some women may develop invasive cancer while they wait. C.I.S. is a pre-cancerous lesion on the surface of the cervix which can lead to invasive cancer if left untreated. Lack of staff and resources and increased de-

mand for smear tests after the cancer inquiry mean hundreds of women with positive smears cannot be seen immediately. At National Women’s Hospital, 528 women with positive smears are waiting for colposcopies (examination of the cells of the cervix). Women with mild abnormalities are waiting up to 18 months and those with more advanced or moderate lesions, up to a year. Patients with severe lesions are having to wait

up to three months when normally they would be seen in a week. A National Women’s Hospital obstetrician and gynaecologist, Dr Mark Insull, said doctors were worried that patients’ lesions would progress and there was a chance some could develop invasive cancer. Pap smears were not always an accurate indication of the level of abnormality and lesions were often found to be more advanced after colposcopy, Dr Insull said.