Cervical Cancer Prevention on Instagram: Content and Social Interaction Analysis of Brazilian Accounts

Abstract: Objective: The aim of the present study was to analyse the content of posts on Instagram about cervical cancer. Methods: It was conducted a qualitative analysis using the 50 most popular publicly available Portuguese-language Instagram posts, containing the hashtags #cervicalcancer, #papsmear, #hpv, #papillomavirus, and #hpvvac-cine, during the Brazilian national cervical cancer prevention campaign in March 2018. Results: Posts recruited using #cervicalcancer provided 60% of posts with contents related to secondary prevention; the #papsmear provided 46% of posts with irrelevant contents; the #hpv and #papillomavirus provided 50% and 64% of posts with informative content, respectively; and the #hpvvaccine provided 58% of posts with content related to primary prevention. The posts that received the highest number of likes were those from the hashtags #hpv and #papillomavirus with 151.33 and 78.00 likes/post, respectively. The majority of posts presented less than 05 comments/post, except for the #hpv, which had 64.76 comments/post. According to the users’ profiles, the majority of the posts, regardless of the hashtag used, were made by health professionals. Conclusion: The focus of Instagram posts about cervical cancer is on secondary prevention, which can contribute to the promotion of health behaviours not directed to aspects of primary prevention of the disease.     

Chemotherapy of basal cell and squamous cell carcinoma of the eyelids and periorbital tissues

Eight patients, aged 62 to 85 years, with nine instances of histologically proven basal cell carcinoma (BCC) or squamous cell carcinoma (SCC) involving the eyelids and periorbital tissues, were treated with systemic and/or local (iontophoresis) chemotherapy using cisplatin (Platinol) and doxorubicin (Adriamycin). All patients had either refused surgery, would have required extensive procedures, or had medical problems contraindicating surgery. Systemic chemotherapy induced a complete or partial remission in eight of nine lesions. No patient has required maintenance chemotherapy and no significant toxic side effects were encountered. The length of follow-up ranged from 2 to 50 months. Iontophoretic therapy with cisplatin was used to treat five small foci of new, recurrent or persistent tumor(s) in three of these patients and resulted in a partial response in all five lesions. Systemic or local chemotherapy offers an alternative to current standard forms of treatment for BCC and SCC in selected cases.