Migrating techniques, multiplying diagnoses: the contribution of Argentina and Brazil to early 'detection policy' in cervical cancer

Abstract

This article on the early detection of cervical cancer focuses on the development of two leading diagnostic techniques - colposcopy and the Pap smear test - and their histories in Argentina and Brazil. It explores how diagnostic tools were transferred between Europe and the Americas, while examining the intersection of cultural and medical aspects and the processes of adaptation and resignification in the receiving countries. Colposcopy received little attention in the main Western medical centers until South American countries reasserted its significance in the 1950s. 'Peripheral' centers played a central role in early detection policies and the combined uses of these methods gave rise to a new stage of 'cumulative confidence' in cervical cancer diagnosis and screening.