Oi amigos!

We’ve been having an exciting week around here – lots of work to get done!

 

Cytopathology

Last Friday, we had the great opportunity to present our technologies to Dr. Fregnani’s class of post-graduate students. After we demonstrated the technology, Dr. Fregnani asked the students for their ideas about the tech and how they thought it could be most effectively used. Overall, the answers were primarily that the GFM could be used to read pap smears on the Mobile Units.

We followed up with their suggestions on Tuesday, when we met again with Dr. Fregnani and Dr. Cristovam, who is the head of the Pathology Department. We brainstormed a bit, and then developed a short experiment to test the GFM. The plan is to ask a handful of students who have just completed their training as cytotechnicians to look at some pap smears using the GFM, and determine whether or not the cells are abnormal. From there, the cytotechs will use the phone capabilities of the GFM to send a picture to a pathologist, who can make the final diagnosis. We will already know the expected outcome, so the point of this experiment is to test concordance – do we get the same diagnosis using the GFM as we do when the sample is viewed under a regular microscope?

We’re hoping that these experiments can be done early next week, so we can determine if we should take the GFM on a trip with the Mobile Unit later this month, to continue these tests.

 

Mammography Mobile Units

So speaking of Mobile Units, we headed back out to Monte Azul on Wednesday afternoon, and to Bebedouro on Thursday.

It’s always a good day when we get to head out to these smaller cities. This week was especially good because we took some time to talk with some patients and find out how they were feeling about the Mobile Units. These ladies were happy to talk with us while they waited, and luckily Carol was happy to act as a translator.

We’ve been working with the nurses in these Mobile Units, asking them about their difficulties, and trying to determine what sort of improvements that could be most helpful to the nurses who are there on a regular basis. We’ve compiled a report of our findings and we’re presenting it to Dr. Edmundo, the director of the Prevention Unit, this afternoon to see what he thinks and to get approval to start working on some projects that can be implemented in the short term.

 

Teledermatology

The other project we’ve been busy with this week has been with Dr. Carlos, who works with another Mobile Unit. This Mobile Unit travels to states that are farther in the north of Brazil, like Amazonas and Mato Grosso, where it screens for cervical, prostate, and skin cancer. Dr. Carlos works specifically with skin cancer, and has been working on a teledermatology program for several months now.

What is teledermatology, you might ask? Well, in extremely rural and impoverished regions (like Amazonas and Mato Grosso), there aren’t a lot of doctors, especially not ones trained to identify cancerous lesions. So the idea is to be able to take a photograph of the lesion, send it to a doctor who isn’t in the area but is instead in a hospital in a city farther away, and have that doctor send back a diagnosis. This can reduce false negatives (when a patient has cancer, but is told they don’t) and false positives (when a doctor isn’t sure, so they send to patient to Barretos anyway, which costs the patient time and money, only to find out they didn’t have cancer in the first place). This type of screening is really important when you consider that skin cancer is one of the most common types of cancer worldwide.

Dr. Carlos is hoping to set up such a program in the HCB Mobile Units, and we’ve been meeting with him to learn more about the work he does. At the end of the month, we’ll get to see the screening process in action, because we’ll be traveling for a few days with the Mobile Unit in Mato Grosso. I’m really looking forward to that!

That’s about all that’s cooking around here. I’ll see you guys next time!

Tchau!

Jessica