A single-visit approach to cervical cancer prevention in rural Thailand

guidelines. Informed consent was obtained from all participants. The protocol was approved by the Western Institutional Review Board and the Ethical Review Committee for Research in Human Subjects of the Ministry of Public Health. Of 565 women in Group A: 28 (5.0%) had no visible squamocolumnar junction (SCJ); 464 (82.1%) were VIA negative; 54 (9.6%) were VIA positive; 1 (0.2%) had suspect cancer; and 18 (3.2%) were classified as other. A total of 526 women received ECC and/or biopsy, of whom 2 had cervical intraepithelial neoplasia (CIN) grade 2/3. Of 3562 women in Group B: 147 (4.1%) had no visible SCJ; 3275 (91.9%) had negative VIA results; 133 (3.7%) were VIA positive; 0 had suspect cancer; and 7 (0.1%) were classified as other. There were 287 women who received colposcopy at the district hospital; of these 287 women, 133 (46.3%) were VIA positive, 147 (51.2%) had no visible SCJ, and 2 (0.7%) were unknown. Five women subsequently underwent hysterectomy, and 3 of 277 women who received ECC and/or biopsy had CIN 2/3. The VIA positivity rate on follow-up testing for both previously VIA negative and positive cohorts was exceedingly low (3.7% and 9.6%, respectively). Based on these results, rescreening with VIA at longer intervals may be warranted in low-resource settings.