Dataset Information

Acceptability and safety of thermal ablation to prevent cervical cancer in sub-Saharan Africa.

ABSTRACT:

Background

The World Health Organization recommends thermal ablation as an alternative to cryotherapy to treat women with precancerous lesions in low-resource settings. However, limited data are available on women's experience and adverse events (AEs) of the procedure in the context of Sub-Saharan Africa. The objective of this study was to evaluate the acceptability and safety of thermal ablation in women screened positive for precancerous cervical lesions.

Methods

Asymptomatic women aged 30-49 years old living in the Dschang Health District were invited to participate in a cervical cancer screening campaign termed "3 T-Approach" (for Test-Triage and Treat). Recruited women were asked to perform HPV self-sampling followed by triage with visual assessment and treatment with thermal ablation if required. After treatment and 4-6 weeks later, interviews were conducted to assess women's experience on anxiety, discomfort, and pain during thermal ablation. AEs were recorded on pre-defined electronic forms 4-6 weeks after treatment to assess the procedure's safety.

Results

Between September 2018 and December 2020, 399 HPV-positive women (18.7% of women screened) were recruited, 236 (59.1%) had a positive visual assessment, 234 were treated by thermal ablation and 198 (84.6%) received therapy in the same visit. Treatment was not considered as painful (score ≤ 4/10) by 209 (90.9%) patients while 5 (2.5%) reported high pain (score 8-10/10). During post-treatment interviews 4-6 weeks later, most reported AEs were graded mild or moderate (grade I-II). The most frequent symptoms reported as mild AEs (grade 1-2) were vaginal watery discharge (75.5%), vaginal bloody-stained discharge (21.5%) and malodourous discharge (14.5%). None of the participants experienced serious AEs (grade 3-4) or AEs requiring admission to hospital or emergency consultation. The vast majority of women (99.6%) would agree to repeat the procedure if necessary and (99.6%) would recommend it to friends or family.

Conclusion

Thermal ablation is widely accepted by women and appears as a safe procedure. It may contribute to improving the link between screening and treatment in a single visit and to optimizing cervical cancer control in low-resource settings.

Trial registration

The study was registered on clinicaltrials.gov ( NCT03757299 ) in November 2018 (28/11/2018).

SUBMITTER: Metaxas T

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8812220 | biostudies-literature | 2022 Feb

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

ACCESS DATA

Publications

Acceptability and safety of thermal ablation to prevent cervical cancer in sub-Saharan Africa.

Metaxas Tania T Kenfack Bruno B Sormani Jessica J Tincho Eveline E Lemoupa Makajio Sophie S Wisniak Ania A Vassilakos Pierre P Petignat Patrick P

BMC cancer 20220202 1

<h4>Background</h4>The World Health Organization recommends thermal ablation as an alternative to cryotherapy to treat women with precancerous lesions in low-resource settings. However, limited data are available on women's experience and adverse events (AEs) of the procedure in the context of Sub-Saharan Africa. The objective of this study was to evaluate the acceptability and safety of thermal ablation in women screened positive for precancerous cervical lesions.<h4>Methods</h4>Asymptomatic wo ...[more]

PMID: 35109806

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Dataset Information

Acceptability and safety of thermal ablation to prevent cervical cancer in sub-Saharan Africa.

Background

Methods

Results

Conclusion

Trial registration

Publications

Acceptability and safety of thermal ablation to prevent cervical cancer in sub-Saharan Africa.

Similar Datasets

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