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DYSPLASIA

Woman beats illness, turns life around

She now works at the clinic that treated her, where 'no one is turned away'

Steve Ueckert / Chronicle Dr. Raymond Kaufman, an obstetrician and gynecologist at the Cervical Cancer Screening Clinic, uses a colposcope in examining and treating dysplasia, a pre-cancerous condition. In the background is medical assistant Maria Torres, a former patient treated by Kaufman with a quick outpatient method.

In 2002, Maria Torres, mother of three children, was separated from her husband and jobless when the bad news arrived. She had gone five or six years without a Pap smear. She went to a clinic and learned her results were positive.

"They said I had cancer. I thought I was going to die. I was very depressed. This caused a lot of damage," said Torres, now 37.

On the advice of a friend, Torres went for a second examination at the Cervical Cancer Screening Clinic, recently relocated to The Methodist Hospital's Smith Tower. The clinic offers free or low-cost diagnostic evaluation and treatment for women who have received abnormal Pap smear results.

Her second test, performed by Dr. Raymond Kaufman, an obstetrician and gynecologist at the clinic, clarified Torres' condition. What she had, in fact, was not cervical cancer but a pre-cancerous condition called dysplasia — a condition that is 100 percent treatable.

Using an outpatient method known as LEEP (loop electrical excision procedure), Kaufman removed the abnormal tissue from Torres' cervix. In this procedure, which lasts less than 10 minutes, the surgery is performed with a thin wire loop through which an electrical current passes. All of Torres' subsequent Pap smears have been negative.

"Anybody can come to this clinic. The important thing for women to know is that, in its earliest stages, this is a completely treatable condition. There's no reason for anyone to die because of this disease," Kaufman said.

Worldwide, cervical cancer is the third most common cancer among women.

"If the patient needs care, we provide it. They pay what they can afford," he said. "We don't do financial histories or background checks. Nobody is turned away."

Torres was so grateful for her experience at the clinic that she decided to start a career in health care. She became a certified medical assistant and went to work for the clinic.

"I was told I was dying and now I'm working in the clinic that saved my life," said Torres. "People think life is over when they hear the word 'cancer.' I'm here to educate women and tell them that their lives are just starting."

For questions or comments on the Health & Medicine page, contact raequel.roberts@chron.com.

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