BACKGROUND: Cervical cancer screening is one of the most effective cancer prevention strategies, but most women in Africa have never been screened. In 2007, the Cameroon Baptist Convention Health Services, a large faith-based health care system in Cameroon, initiated the Women's Health Program (WHP) to address this disparity. The WHP provides fee-for-service cervical cancer screening using visual inspection with acetic acid enhanced by digital cervicography (VIA-DC), prioritizing care for women living with HIV/AIDS. They also provide clinical breast examination, family planning (FP) services, and treatment for reproductive tract infection (RTI). Here, we document the strengths and challenges of the WHP screening program and the unique aspects of the WHP model, including a fee-for-service payment system and the provision of other women's health services. METHODS: We retrospectively reviewed WHP medical records from women who presented for cervical cancer screening from 2007-2014. RESULTS: In 8 years, WHP nurses screened 44,979 women for cervical cancer. The number of women screened increased nearly every year. The WHP is sustained primarily on fees-for-service, with external funding totaling about $20,000 annually. In 2014, of 12,191 women screened for cervical cancer, 99% received clinical breast exams, 19% received FP services, and 4.7% received treatment for RTIs. We document successes, challenges, solutions implemented, and recommendations for optimizing this screening model. CONCLUSION: The WHP's experience using a fee-for-service model for cervical cancer screening demonstrates that in Cameroon VIA-DC is acceptable, feasible, and scalable and can be nearly self-sustaining. Integrating other women's health services enabled women to address additional health care needs. IMPLICATION FOR PRACTICE: The Cameroon Baptist Convention Health Services Women's Health Program successfully implemented a nurse-led, fee-for-service cervical cancer screening program using visual inspection with acetic acid-enhanced by digital cervicography in the setting of a large faith-based health care system in Cameroon. It is potentially replicable in many African countries, where faith-based organizations provide a large portion of health care. The cost-recovery model and concept of offering multiple services in a single clinic rather than stand-alone "silo" cervical cancer screening could provide a model for other low-and-middle-income countries planning to roll out a new, or make an existing, cervical cancer screening services accessible, comprehensive, and sustainable.

Intraoperative frozen section (IFS) on endometrial cancer is an invaluable skill for pathologists-in-training to master. Within limited time constraints, pathologists are expected to determine tumor type, grade, and depth of myometrial invasion. During their training, pathology residents gradually gain experience in handling the majority of cases. However, significant errors can still be seen among senior level trainees. We aimed to improve training effectiveness by evaluating our trainees' performance, identifying common errors, and recommending focused curriculum. Twenty-two residents [postgraduate year (PGY)-1-PGY-4] performed 260 IFS during a 4-yr period. We compared their independent IFS diagnoses with final diagnoses. Overall resident IFS accuracy was 73%. Accuracy for tumor type and depth of myometrial invasion was 80% and 93%, respectively. Two thirds of errors were due to sampling with the rest because of interpretation. Major deficiencies lay in recognizing high-risk histologic types (serous, clear cell, sarcoma) and unconventional myometrial invasion patterns (MELF, adenoma malignum, and adenomyosis-like). Resident IFS errors would theoretically result in suboptimal staging for 32 (12%) patients and unnecessary staging for 1 (0.4%). Overall IFS performance improved as training level increased (76% accuracy for PGY-1 accompanied by PGY-5; 59% for PGY-2; 74% for PGY-3; and 86% for PGY-4). We recommend a dedicated curriculum targeting these difficult yet clinically important entities through review literature and a collection of classic cases demonstrating the diverse morphology variations. Implementing such focused training would greatly improve our trainees' competence on IFS, preparing them to handle a wide variety of cases and situations in future practice.

BACKGROUND: In 2007, the Cameroon Baptist Convention Health Services (CBCHS) implemented a screen-and-treat cervical cancer prevention program using visual inspection with acetic acid enhanced by digital cervicography (VIA-DC). METHODS: We retrospectively analyzed 46,048 medical records of women who received care through the CBCHS Women's Health Program from 2007 through 2014 to determine the prevalence and predictors of positive VIA-DC, rates of same day treatment, and cohort prevalence of invasive cervical cancer (ICC). RESULTS: Of the 44,979 women who were screened for cervical cancer, 9.0% were VIA-DC-positive, 66.8% were VIA-DC-negative, 22.0% were VIA-DC-inadequate (normal ectocervix, but portions of the transformation zone were obscured), and 2.2% were VIA-DC-uncertain (cervical abnormalities confounding VIA-DC interpretation). Risk factors significantly associated with VIA-DC-positive screen were HIV-positivity, young age at sexual debut, higher lifetime number of sexual partners, low education status and higher gravidity. In 2014, 31.1% of women eligible for cryotherapy underwent same day treatment. Among the 32,788 women screened from 2007 through 2013, 201 cases of ICC were identified corresponding to a cohort prevalence of 613 per 100,000. CONCLUSIONS: High rate of VIA-DC-positive screens suggests a significant burden of potential cervical cancer cases and highlights the need for expansion of cervical cancer screening and prevention throughout the 10 regions of Cameroon. VIA-DC-inadequate rates were also high, especially in older women, and additional screening methods are needed to confirm whether these results are truly negative. In comparison to similar screening programs in sub-Saharan Africa there was low utilization of same day cryotherapy treatment. Further studies are required to characterize possible program specific barriers to treatment, for example cultural demands, health system challenges and cost of procedure. The prevalence of ICC among women who presented for screening was high and requires further investigation.

OBJECTIVES: To explore the implications of cervical conization specimens lacking the targeted high-grade squamous intraepithelial lesions (negative cone). METHODS: We studied 540 conization procedures: 400 positive cones and 140 negative cones. Clinicopathologic features and 2-year follow-up results were reported. RESULTS: Negative cones comprised 22% of procedures triggered by CIN2 or higher biopsies. Procedures triggered by cytology produced much higher percentages of negative cones (37% high-grade squamous intraepithelial lesion [HSIL], 46% atypical squamous cells-cannot exclude high-grade squamous intraepithelial lesion [ASC-H], and 76% low-grade squamous intraepithelial lesion-cannot exclude high-grade squamous intraepithelial lesion [LSIL-H]). Upon reviewing negative excision-triggering biopsy and cytology, we downgraded 24 (24%) CIN2 biopsies, three (14%) HSIL, five (83%) ASC-H, and 12 (92%) LSIL-H. One-third of our negative cones can be attributed to overdiagnosis either on biopsy or cytology. Patients with negative cones were older and had smaller excisions, negative colposcopic findings, and negative/equivocal high-risk human papillomavirus (HR-HPV). Within 2 years, 35 (25%) women with negative cones experienced ASCUS or LSIL. Only one (0.7%) recurred as CIN3, a significantly lower percentage than women with positive cones (13%). CONCLUSIONS: We advocate careful review of all excision-triggering biopsy and cytology, especially in cases of LSIL-H. Patients with negative cones should be surveyed with cytology and HR-HPV testing.

BACKGROUND: Pap test (PT) interpretations of low-grade squamous intraepithelial lesion (LSIL), cannot exclude high-grade squamous intraepithelial lesion (HSIL), or LSIL-H, are used in many laboratories; however monitoring its usage for quality assurance purposes is understudied. METHODS: PTs from 2005 to 2010 were collected, and yearly frequencies of LSIL, HSIL, LSIL-H, and atypical squamous cells, cannot exclude HSIL (ASC-H) as a function of total PTs and total squamous intraepithelial lesions (SILs) were calculated. Two-year risk of cervical intraepithelial neoplasia 2 (CIN2) or worse (CIN2+) and CIN 3 or worse (CIN3+) was calculated. RESULTS: A total of 352,220 PTs were identified including 17,301 abnormal PTs. LSIL-H usage increased from 2005 to 2010 (from 0.28% of total PTs in 2005 to 0.61% in 2010, P < .01; from 5.8% of total SILs in 2005 to 12% in 2010, P < .001). HSIL usage decreased significantly from 2005 to 2010 (from 0.7% of total PTs in 2005 to 0.48% in 2010, P = .048; from 14.5% of total SILs in 2005 to 9.5% in 2010, P < .01). Usage of LSIL and ASC-H did not change. Two-year risk of CIN2+ and CIN3+ for HSIL increased significantly from 2005 to 2010 (P < .01). Two-year risk of CIN2+ and CIN3+ for LSIL-H did not change significantly from 2005 to 2010. CONCLUSIONS: The frequency of LSIL-H interpretations is significantly increasing at our institution, with a significant decrease in HSIL interpretations over the same period. Two-year risk of CIN2+ and CIN3+ for HSIL increased significantly as usage of LSIL-H increased and that of HSIL decreased. Laboratories using LSIL-H may benefit from monitoring its frequency to ensure its appropriate use. Cancer (Cancer Cytopathol) 2014;122:123-7. (c) 2013 American Cancer Society.