Knowledge about cervical cancer among Polish and Finnish female students.

Objectives: The purpose of the study was to assess the knowledge of Polish and Finnish students about cervical cancer prevention and the factors influencing it.

Study Design: 427 women took part in the research, 175 of whom were Finns and 252 Poles. The questionnaire had 20 questions.

[Survival of cervical cancer patients in selected regions of Poland in 1990-1996, in relation to some prognostic factors].

To evaluate whether cervical cancer patients in selected regions of Poland show similar 5-year survival rates and if they are different from European average and, also, to evaluate the effect of selected prognostic factors. The analysis based on a cohort of 1386 cervical cancer cases identified by population-based Cancer Registries collecting data from Kieleckie and Opolskie voivodships and from the City of Warsaw in 1990-96. These data become complete by adding information from medical records.

European health systems and cancer care.

Introduction: Data on the survival of all incident cases collected by population-based cancer registries make it possible to evaluate the overall performance of diagnostic and therapeutic actions on cancer in those populations. EUROCARE-3 is the third round of the EUROCARE project, the largest cancer registry population based collaborative study on survival in European cancer patients. The EUROCARE-3 study analysed the survival of cancer patients diagnosed from 1990 to 1994 and followed-up to 1999.

[Evaluation of thyroid cancer morbidity in Warsaw in 1987-1997].

The crude and standardized thyroid cancer incidence rates calculated for the period 1987-1997 in Poland increased from 0.5 to 0.9 and 0.

Over 400 years of cancer control efforts in Poland.

The history of the struggle against cancer in Poland is presented from its beginning, marked by the first hospital for cancer patients established four centuries ago in Warsaw, to the implementation of the main goal of National Cancer Programmes, i.e., the recent construction of a large, modern Cancer Centre in Warsaw.

Survival of cancer patients in Poland.

Data on survivals that were obtained from population-based cancer registries and representing different subpopulations in Poland, i.e., the City of Warsaw and the Warsaw Rural Areas (WRA), are presented.

Screening for cervical cancer in Poland.

Despite the growing number of PAP tests performed in Poland every year, (approximately 3 million per year in 1992) the mortality rates of cervical cancer are stable or increasing. With the intention of changing this unfavourable situation, a team of specialists in 1988 has developed a model for cervical cancer screening in Poland. Six experimental centres were chosen for the implementation of this model.

Epidemiological evaluation of the efficiency of treatment of pre-invasive cervical cancer in Warsaw, 1969-1988.

An analysis of 2,281 cases of pre-invasive cervical cancer registered in Warsaw Cancer Registry during the years 1969-1988, showed that the rate of cervical cancers detected at the pre-invasive stage declined from 46.8% in 1970, to 26.8% in 1988.

Epidemiology of breast and gynaecological cancers in Poland.

The epidemiological data on breast cancer and cancer of the female reproductive organs are presented in the light of data provided by the National Cancer Registry and the Warsaw Cancer Registry. Estimates say that cancer of the breast and the reproductive organs attacked 19,764 women in Poland, 1989, of whom 9,436 died. This number represents 41.

Gynaecological oncology in Poland.

The control of gynaecological cancers in Poland has developed from three factors: 1) the organization of the Committee for Cancer Research and Control in 1906, which considered these activities as extremely important; 2) the personal commitment of Maria Skłodowska-Curie, and 3) the opportunity to train Polish physicians at the Foundation Curie in Paris after 1921, enhanced by the support of Head of the Fondation Professor Claude Regaud in introducing the "Paris Method" as a therapy against cervical cancer, to be provided for patients at the Radium Institute in Warsaw. The separation of gynaecological oncology as an independent branch of oncology occurred in Poland in 1951 when the Gynaecological Oncology Departments were opened first at the Institute of Oncology and later in other oncological clinics. The establishment of the Polish Gynaecological Society in 1992 was the next milestone.

Epidemiology of cancer in Poland.

Poland is a Central European country with the population of over 38 million. Its system of cancer control is organized in a three-level oncological network. The number of cancer cases diagnosed each year is about 100,000 and over 70,000 die of cancer every year.

Striking differences in the epidemiological picture of breast cancer in urban and rural areas in Poland.

Poland is a European country of medium female breast cancer risk but a steady, mean incidence growth of 3.5% per year makes this cancer the most frequent malignancy and a leading cause of cancer-related deaths among the women of the 1980s. Our analysis is based on data collected by the Warsaw Cancer Registry in the years 1963-1987.

Changes in the incidence and survivals of ovarian cancer in Poland.

The incidence and mortality trends, as well as survivals, are presented according to the Warsaw Cancer Registry data concerning 4,112 ovarian cancer cases registered in the years 1963-1988, in two populations, the urban of Warsaw City and the rural of the Warsaw Rural Areas (WRA). The standardized incidence rate in Warsaw in 1988 was 13.44/100,000 and it has not changed significantly in relation to the 1963 figure, but statistical significance characterized the increase of incidence in WRA population and the general population of Poland.

Evaluation of selected prognostic factors in ovarian cancer.

Among the group of 367 women with ovarian cancer, 11 prognostic factors were examined. Eight of the factors had an important prognostic value regarding the longterm (5 and 10 years) survivals of ovarian cancer patients. There were the following significant prognostic factors: histological type, the degree of differentiation of the tumour, clinical stage, ascites, overgrowth of the capsule, or infiltration of the ovary surface, irregular shape of the tumour, cancer in both ovaries, and solid type of the tumour.

History of 400 years of struggle against cancer in Poland.

The over 400-year history of struggle against cancer in Poland is presented in this work, from its beginning, marked by the establishment of the first hospital for cancer patients in Warsaw in 1592, up to the achievement of the main aim of the National Cancer Programme, i.e., the recent construction of a large modern cancer centre in Warsaw.