[Questionnaire method in conducting prophylactic oncological examinations of the population of a rural locality]

The authors describe the method of conducting mass prophylactic oncological examinations by means of questionnaires at the first stage, which was developed at the N. N. Petrov Research Institute of Oncology of the USSR Ministry of Health. Questionnaires were aimed at the recognition of somatic pretumor and tumor lesions of the main localizations and the increase of oncological vigilance of general practitioners. The method has been tested on 11386 inhabitants of rural district of Leningrad and Novgorod Provinces. As a result of mass prophylactic oncological examinations 738 different pathologies were revealed (in 6.6% of all questionnaires), pretumor lesions making 2.05% malignant neoplasms--0.06%. The use of the questionnaire method in conducting prophylactic examinations made it possible: to enhance their medical efficacy, to reduce the number of individuals subject to medical control, to employ instrumental-laboratory tests on more proper grounds, and on the basis of a questionnaire to make a registry of the primary account of persons undergoing prophylactic examinations.