– I couldn’t sleep the day the online publication came. It’s terrible about the young people who get cancer, says Jannicke Mohr Berland, who is section chief in cytology at Stavanger University Hospital (SUS). She talks about the TV2 program “Norway behind the facade” about 28-year-old Maren Walvik Johnsen. She took her first pap smear when she was 25, and the result was fine. But it turned out to be wrong. Now Johnsen has cervical cancer with spread. In the wake of the program, many women are scared. Gynecologists are belittled by young women who are concerned. IMPORTANT: More people must participate in the screening programme, believes Jannicke Mohr Berland. Photo: Erik Waage / news Berland understands people’s concerns, but believes the biggest problem with cervical cancer is not the tests. There are still too few people who make use of the program for cervical screening. – The most important thing is to get the tests taken. Then we have the opportunity to help. There are almost 30 per cent who do not take samples, and they have the greatest risk of getting cancer, she says. – Very good screening program She describes the fact that so many people are now worried about the screening program as an undesirable situation. – But the positive thing here is that people are becoming even more interested in it. Because you still have to test yourself? – Yes, that is absolutely correct. It directs the focus on that, but I think it will be a bit unfortunate if the one-off cases are to be shown, she says. The pathologist believes that the cervical screening program is already very good. – We prevent an enormous number of cancer cases, she says. MACHINES: The cell samples also go through these machines. Photo: Erik Waage / news In addition, the test results are always analyzed by two people in the laboratory. – It is done very thoroughly. There is a systematic in it. We also have prescreening with us. This means that all the samples are first looked at quickly, and if there are any gross changes, they are quickly answered by a doctor, says Berland. Pointing to low numbers Figures from the Cancer Registry show that the risk of getting cervical cancer after following the cervical program is 0.01 to 0.02 per cent among the samples analysed. Among the 80,000 women aged 25–33 who in 2021 were told that they had a positive pap smear, 14 still developed cervical cancer. – It is a very low figure, says Giske Ursin, who is director of the Cancer Register. Giske Ursin, director of the Cancer Registry. Photo: Kreftregisteret This is in contrast to a number that is mentioned a lot in the debate about cervical cancer after the TV programme. There it is claimed that half of all women under the age of 34 with a high degree of cell changes are not caught by a pap smear. So a margin of error of 50 percent. That margin of error is about what goes wrong in the program for cervical cancer among the 14 women who nevertheless developed cancer. – These statistics are interesting for those of us who work with the screening program to find out where it has failed. But what is important for the women who will participate in the program is to know how reliable the test answers are on a normal test, explains Ursin. – For the women, it is interesting to know how likely it is that they may still be among those with cervical cancer. There is therefore a 0.01 to 0.02 percent chance, she continues. – Can’t be 100 percent Division Director Johan Torgersen in the Directorate of Health understands the unrest among women, but he too believes there is no cause for concern. Johan Torgersen, division director in the Directorate of Health. Photo: Finn Oluf Nyquist – The cervical cancer screening program catches the vast majority of them, but it is the way with medical examinations that they are never 100 percent, and they will never be 100 percent, says Torgersen. The Norwegian Directorate of Health works intensively to make the group that is not detected as small as possible in all screening programmes. Torgersen encourages all women to participate in the programme, as well as monitor symptoms that arise between tests. – Watch for irregular bleeding, discharge and pain in the lower abdomen. If you have such symptoms, see a doctor. It is very important, he says. During 2023, HPV testing of the cervical smear will be introduced in the screening programme. This will also help uncover more cases, the experts believe.
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– Unfortunate if the one-off cases are to be shown – news Rogaland – Local news, TV and radio
