[Federal Register Volume 61, Number 47 (Friday, March 8, 1996)]
[Notices]
[Page 9463]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 96-5450]



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DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES

Consensus Development Conference on Cervical Cancer

    Notice is hereby given of the NIH Consensus Development Conference 
on ``Cervical Cancer,'' which will be held April 1-3, 1996, in the 
Natcher Conference Center of the National Institutes of Health, 9000 
Rockville Pike, Bethesda, Maryland 20892. The conference begins at 8:30 
a.m. on April 1, at 8 a.m. on April 2, and at 9 a.m. on April 3.
    The introduction of the Pap test 50 years ago led to a steep 
decline in deaths from cervical cancer. Nonetheless, this form of 
cancer is still one of the most common, accounting for 6 percent of all 
malignancies in women and 5,000 deaths in the United States each year. 
Worldwide, cervical cancer remains the leading cause of cancer deaths 
among women.
    The conference will focus on treatment and quality of life issues 
for women with cervical cancer. For women with early stage disease, 
these include pretreatment imaging, the role of lymph node resection, 
primary surgery and radiotherapy, and adjuvant treatment. For women 
with advanced-stage disease, critical issues include optimal 
radiotherapy techniques, neoadjuvant and concomitant chemotherapy, 
pelvic exenteration, and palliative treatment.
    Other topics to be addressed include screening patterns and 
technology, the Bethesda classification for Pap smears, management of 
preinvasive disease, developments in radiobiology, and prospects for 
human papillomavirus vaccines.
    This conference will bring together epidemiologists; obstetrician/
gynecologists; and gynecologic, medical, and radiation oncologists as 
well as representatives from the public. After 1\1/2\ days of 
presentations and audience discussion, an independent, non-Federal 
consensus panel will weigh the scientific evidence and write a draft 
statement that it will present to the audience on the third day. The 
consensus statement will address the following key questions.

--How can we strengthen efforts to screen for and prevent cervical 
cancer?
--What is the appropriate management of low stage cervical cancer (FIGO 
stages I-IIA)?
--What is the appropriate management of advanced stage and recurrent 
cervical cancer?
--What are new directions for research in cervical cancer?

    The primary sponsors for this conference are the National Cancer 
Institute and the NIH Office of Medical Applications of Research. The 
conference is cosponsored by the National Institute of Nursing 
Research, the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, 
the Office of Research on Minority Health, and the Office of Research 
on Women's Health of the National Institutes of Health, and the Centers 
for Disease Control and Prevention. Advance information on the 
conference program and conference registration materials may be 
obtained from: Ann Besignano, Technical Resources International, Inc., 
3202 Tower Oaks Blvd., Suite 200, Rockville, Maryland 20852, (301) 770-
3153, [email protected].
    The consensus statement will be submitted for publication in 
professional journals and other publications. In addition, the 
statement will be available beginning April 3, 1996, from the NIH 
Consensus Program Information Service, P.O. Box 2577, Kensington, 
Maryland 20891, phone 1-800-NIH-OMAR (1-800-644-6627).


    Dated: February 21, 1996.
Ruth L. Kirschstein,
Deputy Director, NIH.
[FR Doc. 96-5450 Filed 3-7-96; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4140-01-M