Evaluation of diagnostic methods and characteristics of patients operated on for cervical cancer in Lithuania, 1998-2000

The total number of new cases of cervical cancer for the three-year period was 1392 patients.The number of cases was fairly evenly distributed among the years of the study period 1998\u962000. The total number of new cases of Stages I and II of cervical cancer was 713 (51.2%) cases, and that of Stages III and IV was 623 (44.8%) cases. The number of the new cases with an unknown stage of the disease was found to be 56 (4.0%) cases. The number of patients with Stage IIIB disease was the highest (69 cases) among all the stages of cervical cancer for the study period 1998\u962000. The second most common stage was Stage IB disease with 52 patients belonging to this category. One-half (50.0%) of all operated patients because of cervical cancer during the study period 1998\u962000 were women of 44 years of age and younger. Therefore, major considerations are to be given for women of reproductive age where effective screening and early detection of cervical pathology could help to avoid a lot of invasive cases of the disease and thus decrease mortality due to it. Generally, the diagnostic work-up and examinations of cervical cancer patients were insufficient, especially in cases of advanced stage disease. Stages III and IV were diagnosed in 44.8% of all cases. Overall, cystoscopy was performed in 39.4% (42 cases) of the total number of cases in Stages IIB through IVA of cervical cancer. Overall, rectosigmoidoscopy was performed in 6.4% (7 cases) of the total number of cases in Stages IIB through IVA of the disease. Finally, the proportion of CT that was performed in cases of Stages IIB through IVB of cervical cancer was 8.4% only. Clinical staging correlates well with pathologic staging in Stage I, particularly Stage IA (88.91%). The data also indicates that parametrial involvement would seem to be the most difficult problem, as 28.59% of Stage IIB and 32.3% of Stage IIIB were down-staged on the basis of pathological findings