ArticleBMC cancer2022
Acceptability and safety of thermal ablation to prevent cervical cancer in sub-Saharan Africa.
Article in BMC cancer, 2022. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. It is linked to trial NCT03757299 (Promoting Comprehensive Cervical Cancer Prevention and Better Women Health in Cameroon), which is not on this map. Cited by 10 papers.
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Promoting Comprehensive Cervical Cancer Prevention and Better Women Health in Cameroon
Who cites it
10 citing papers in PubMed, 14 citations in OpenAlex.
- Advancing the elimination of cervical cancer across Africa.Nature communications · 2026Review
- Innovative Treatment for Cervical Precancer: A Qualitative Evaluation using the Theoretical Framework of Acceptability.Global implementation research and applications · 2026Article
- Long-term risk and predictors of high-risk human papillomavirus persistence after thermal ablation amongst women living with HIV in West Africa.HIV medicine · 2025Article
- Article
- A mixed-methods preliminary evaluation of an innovative treatment for cervical precancer in El Salvador's screen-and-treat program.BMC women's health · 2025Article
- 'ARVs is for HIV and cream is for HPV or precancer:' Women's perceptions and perceived acceptability of self-administered topical therapies for cervical precancer treatment: a qualitative study from Kenya.Ecancermedicalscience · 2025Article
- Acceptability and feasibility of implementing thermal ablation as a preventive cervical cancer treatment and the comparison of treatment outcome with cryotherapy in Zimbabwe.Ecancermedicalscience · 2024Article
- Point-of-care testing with Xpert HPV for single-visit, screen-and-treat for cervical cancer prevention: a demonstration study in South Africa.Scientific reports · 2023Article
- Locoregional Thermal and Chemical Tumor Ablation: Review of Clinical Applications and Potential Opportunities for Use in Low- and Middle-Income Countries.JCO global oncology · 2023Review
- Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
8 authors at 5 institutions in 2 countries.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundThe World Health Organization recommends thermal ablation as an alternative to cryotherapy to treat women with precancerous lesions in low-resource settings. However, limited data are available on women's experience and adverse events (AEs) of the procedure in the context of Sub-Saharan Africa. The objective of this study was to evaluate the acceptability and safety of thermal ablation in women screened positive for precancerous cervical lesions.
methodsAsymptomatic women aged 30-49 years old living in the Dschang Health District were invited to participate in a cervical cancer screening campaign termed "3 T-Approach" (for Test-Triage and Treat). Recruited women were asked to perform HPV self-sampling followed by triage with visual assessment and treatment with thermal ablation if required. After treatment and 4-6 weeks later, interviews were conducted to assess women's experience on anxiety, discomfort, and pain during thermal ablation. AEs were recorded on pre-defined electronic forms 4-6 weeks after treatment to assess the procedure's safety.
resultsBetween September 2018 and December 2020, 399 HPV-positive women (18.7% of women screened) were recruited, 236 (59.1%) had a positive visual assessment, 234 were treated by thermal ablation and 198 (84.6%) received therapy in the same visit. Treatment was not considered as painful (score ≤ 4/10) by 209 (90.9%) patients while 5 (2.5%) reported high pain (score 8-10/10). During post-treatment interviews 4-6 weeks later, most reported AEs were graded mild or moderate (grade I-II). The most frequent symptoms reported as mild AEs (grade 1-2) were vaginal watery discharge (75.5%), vaginal bloody-stained discharge (21.5%) and malodourous discharge (14.5%). None of the participants experienced serious AEs (grade 3-4) or AEs requiring admission to hospital or emergency consultation. The vast majority of women (99.6%) would agree to repeat the procedure if necessary and (99.6%) would recommend it to friends or family.
conclusionThermal ablation is widely accepted by women and appears as a safe procedure. It may contribute to improving the link between screening and treatment in a single visit and to optimizing cervical cancer control in low-resource settings.
trial registrationThe study was registered on clinicaltrials.gov ( NCT03757299 ) in November 2018 (28/11/2018).
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Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.