Cervical cancer stories from 'experiment' told

Charlotte Paul.
Charlotte Paul.
The stories of 82 women caught up in the ''unfortunate experiment'' at the National Women's Hospital in Auckland have now been told, thanks to University of Otago researchers.

During the experiment - an unethical study by Dr Herbert Green from the 1960s until the 1980s - many women with cervical cancers were deliberately left untreated.

Several died, and in the aftermath a commission of inquiry was set up and sweeping changes to cervical screening and consent procedures in general put in place.

The majority of the women who saw Dr Green were diagnosed with cervical intraepithelial neoplasia 3 (CIN3), and their cases have been subject to several previous studies and reports.

However, Dr Green also saw 82 women with microinvasive (Stage 1A) cervical cancer - women whose cases had until now not been subject to further study.

Research by University of Otago staff, newly published in the Australian and New Zealand Journal of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, has traced those cases.

Like the women with CIN3, their symptoms were observed rather than treated, and they had a substantial risk of developing a higher stage of invasive cancer, lead author, Emeritus Prof Charlotte Paul said.

''We have reported these findings in order to document and acknowledge the harm suffered by these women and to complete the picture of the effects of Dr Green's study,'' she said.

Of the 82, 15 developed invasive cancer of the cervix or vaginal vault, the study found.

Eight of the women died.

Of the 15, the procedures carried out in 13 cases were probably non-curative.

The remaining two probably received curative treatment, but they later received neither appropriate surveillance nor treatment.

The proportion who developed invasive cancer (18.3%) was far more than the average rate at the time (3.4%) as was the death rate - 9.8% compared with 1.9%.

''Conventional warning signs often were not acted upon, as is clear from the proportions of women who had repeated positive smears and positive smears not followed by a procedure with curative intent,'' the study said.

''Indeed, among those who developed invasive cancer, three women had 11 or more positive smears and one of those also had eight biopsies under anaesthetic.''

All of those three women later died of their disease.

''It needs to be remembered that the women in Green's study were not asked to consent to the management approach being followed and most were unaware they were not receiving conventional treatment.''

All data abstracted from the National Women's Hospital files for the studies will be put in an Auckland District Health Board archive.

mike.houlahan@odt.co.nz

Add a Comment

 

Advertisement