AIIMS New Delhi completes trials for a low-cost, painless ‘Pocket Colposcope’ for cervical cancer screening, developed by Duke University. The new device will cost 500$ against the $15,000 of the currently used machine.
The results of the trials are yet to be published. Talking about the results, Dr Neerja Bhatia, professor of gynaecology at AIIMS, said: “The Pocket Colposcope is a significant advance in cervical cancer screening. It is a small and simple device, easy to use, store and transport. Yet the pictures are as good or better than standard colposcopy. Health workers can be trained to use the device and record images that can be transmitted to experts elsewhere, who can evaluate them and advise appropriate therapeutic options.”
Cervical cancer is the second most leading cancer among women, preceded by Breast cancer. As per the National Cancer Registry, in 2013, 92,731 cases of cervical cancer were reported in India. This figure is likely to be projected up to 1,00,479 in 2020.
Dr Nimmi Ramanujam, Professor of Global Health and Director of Global Women’s Health Technologies at Duke University said the idea of developing a test that would lessen women’s trauma during cervical cancer screening came from a book by James Marion Sims, the father of modern gynaecology. Sims had written in his book how he hated looking at a woman’s private parts. He is credited with inventing the speculum, that is still used to screen women for cervical cancer. It is one of the most painful and uncomfortable tests a woman has to go through and has not changed much since Sims’s time. That got Dr Ramanujam thinking about cervical cancer screening from a “woman’s perspective”. The inspiration came from a Tampon.
That inspiration has led to a low-cost Pocket Colposcope, which has now been successfully tested at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences, Delhi, by Bhatla. The colposcope looks like an extra long tampon with a light at the end, can look at the cervix with better clarity than the standard colposcope.
Now, the inventor is in talks with the Tamil Nadu government for the introduction of the FDA-approved device in a primary care setting.

Source: Indian Express

   Send article as PDF