[Mass screening for uterine cancer]

Begun in the latter half of the sixties, mass screening for uterine cancer received a fresh impetus with the implementation in February of 1983 of the Health of the Aged Act. Under the latter law, a certain number of problems were also encountered, since autonomous municipalities were newly involved. This report is a description of the Pap test under the new screening system and methods of the uterine cancer mass screening approach or the screening system advanced by Japan Society of obstetrics & gynecology, committee on uterine cancer screening. It covers the primary screening, the secondary screening and detailed screening, their roles and manner in which they are implemented in terms of the local situation. Also, the points deserving the greatest care up through the detailed screening are presented. The importance in particular of the results of the Pap test at the stage of the primary screening, the histological findings, and the reliable transaction of the specimens therefrom, are emphasized. For the mass screening for uterine cancer to result in lower cancer mortality, it is necessary that there be at least 30% of the women aged 30 and over who reside in a given district submitting to the mass screening judging from the results garnered both at home and abroad. The measures needed to reach this goal are introduced. The steps conventionally employed to attain this objective of a higher proportion of women being examined, as well as the mass media propaganda, have their limits. The role of the committees for supervising administration of the screening must be amplified as a concrete means to implement the Health of the Aged Act; the role of the municipalities, which support this realization, must be stressed, the importance of administration policy in the form of periodical examinations, examinations focused on the women of certain ages and the plans for testing with due balance in responsibility between mobile and stationary facility examinations, must be upgraded. Communications with the local medical association and related organizations is also crucial.