Dear Editor,

Uterine cervical cancer is one of the most common cancers in women. An estimated 500,000 cases of invasive cancer are diagnosed worldwide each year. Mexico has one of the high incidence rates of cervical cancer 50 cases per 100,000 women. Each year almost 5,000 Mexican women die for this disease. The high incidence of this disease may reflect the deficiency of early detection screening programs used.

From 1990 to nowadays a plethora of new diagnostic methods have been tried, including fluorescence spectroscopy, new improves to the cytological techniques, as well as molecular biological tests.

Cervical Intraepithelial Neoplasias (CIN) produced by the Human Papilloma Virus (HPV) frequently is not diagnosed by means of the simple techniques described previously. In many medical consulting offices the lack of the optimal equipment, and a simple test to diagnose this disease have done that the gynaecologists must use laboratory tests that have the consequent waiting times.

The aim of this document is the introduction of a new colposcopic system knows as: The actinic light colposcope and its methodology has been developed to resolve the above problems. The new instrument is specifically for diagnoses the Cervical Intraepithelial Neoplasia.

This new colposcopy technique could be use as screening cervical cancer program, patients and institutions avoid costly studies and procedures that require long times to perform in order to obtain reliable results in the detection of CIN. The results by this technique are obtained in the same moment that the procedure is performed.

The comparative results in this study with 106 women was: the rates from False-positives 3% and False-negatives 13%, against the rates of the "Classical Colposcopy" with ranges from 4 to 33% False-positive and 40 to 62% False-negatives. We expect that in a future this colposcope of actinic light will have a dispositive for a photodynamic therapy (PDT), given 2 functions: Diagnostic and treatment at same moment that the detections are done.

Joel Gerardo Diaz S. MD.

Please follow these links for more information:

New colposcopy technic in the prevention of cervical cancer

English version

Spanish version