One of the worst feelings is getting the call from your doctor saying that your Pap smear came back abnormal and that you have been diagnosed with cervical cancer. Many women often feel confused and scared, not knowing if this could be something fixed, or something that could be incurable.
Although many doctors can catch pre-cancerous cells before they start to spread, it is often too late and a woman may already have cervical cancer.
Cervical cancer is among the most common cancers in women. Women regularly perform a pap smear or cervical smear test to prevent and detect symptoms of the disease. . Most tests abnormal pap smear tests do not indicate that a woman has cervical cancer, however if the doctor finds abnormal cells then they may be strongly advised it is possible that the cancer cells themselves do not develop.
Cervical cancer can be prevented, however, with new technologies such as radiotherapy, surgery, and the new HPV vaccine. Close to 3,200 women contract cancer in the UK each year, 95% of women over 35 years of age. Deaths from the deadly disease have actually fallen by more than 40% over the last two decades and the incidence is much lower than breast cancer .
Many women want to know what causes the disease and if there are ways to prevent it. The exact cause of cervical cancer is unknown, however there are many factors that can increase the risk of contracting the disease.
1. Women smoke. If you smoke more than you are, you are more likely to develop cancer. Like lung cancer, cervical cancer is also high among women who smoke. Women who do not smoke are less likely to develop cervical cancer.
2. Human papilloma virus This virus, also known as genital wart, is associated with 95% of all cervical cancers. This is a disease sexually that causes no symptoms; and in 90% of cases the virus ends up going away completely without treatment.
3. Sex. Women who start having intercourse at a young age carry the risk of contracting cervical cancer. Even if a woman has a large number of sexual partners they carry the risk of exposing their cervix to HPV which can develop into cervical cancer.
4. The Birth Control Pill. Women feel that it is ok to have sex without a condom or other form of birth control when they are on the pill. As most women know, birth control pills do not prevent sexually transmitted diseases. Women who have sex without a condom are more likely to contract HPV.
5. Diet and disease lifestyle. If you do not take good care of your body by eating fruits and vegetables than you are at risk of developing cervical cancer. Smoking also increases the risk.
6. If the pap history is smeared with abnormalities. Abnormal cells found in the cervix can increase a woman’s risk of developing cervical cancer.
It is very important to know and understand the symptoms of cervical cancer. In fact, if abnormal cells called cervical intraepithelial neoplasia (CIN) are found at the end of the cervix in a papule, this can be a sign that pre-cancerous cells are developing. These abnormal cells do not cause you any symptoms, but it is important that you and your doctor monitor them closely. However, if these cells continue to develop into cervical cancer it will cause certain symptoms.
1. Vaginal bleeding, even after menopause.
2. Vaginal discharge with odor.
3. Discomfort and irritation during intercourse.
4. Abnormal bleeding from the vagina, during intercourse or between periods.
If you experience any of these, consult your doctor immediately. Risk of developing cancer.
If your pap smear test comes back abnormal you will be asked by your doctor to have a colposcopy. This is where the gynecologist will examine your cervix with a binocular microscope called a colposcope. A doctor will be able to tell if you have an abnormal growth on your cervix or not. If the doctor finds abnormalities, it is very likely a biopsy of the cells by taking a sample of cells from the area.
A biopsy will show if abnormal cells have started to develop in or around the skin of the cervix. There are four stages that cancer cells can go through.
Stage 1: Cells are present only in the cervix. They did not begin to spread.
Stage 2: The cancer has started to spread around the cervix and has reached the surrounding tissues.
Stage 3: Cancer has spread to tissues in the pelvic area, the lower vaginal area, or near lymph nodes. These cells begin to block the kidneys, which in turn cannot drain them properly.
Stage 4: The cancer has begun to spread to other organs, such as the bowel, bladder, even the lungs, liver or bones. This is worse and more difficult to control.
Women who have been diagnosed with the disease may undergo different options for treatment. That treatment depends on whether the cancer has started to spread or not, and how life-threatening the cancer is.
Radical hysterectomy is a common treatment for cervical cancer among women. This treatment may cause damage to fertility later. This is hard for women who want to have children but can’t anymore. Radiotherapy is another option for women who have the disease. This type of treatment focuses on destroying the tumor cells where the gynecologist cannot see. Chemotherapy is the use of drugs to destroy cancer cells. Chemo may be used before surgery or radiotherapy to shrink the tumor so it can be removed more easily. This medicine is usually injected into a vein and can have strong side effects.
The latest form of cervical cancer prevention is the HPV vaccine. This new vaccine trial protected women from contracting HPV, which is associated with the majority of cervical cancer patients.
A study was conducted with the vaccine that involved 2,392 women aged 16-23. Participants were randomly assigned to receive three shots of either HPV-16 or placebo, which is a dummy shot. The women did not know what they had been injected with, and each was monitored for 17 months.
Some of the women had already contracted HPV or other cervical abnormalities, and some developed infections before the shots. These women could not participate in the research and were excluded from the study. Of the remaining women, 41 of them contracted the HPV-16 virus after the placebo shot and nine of them started to develop pre-cancerous cells in their cervix. All of the women who received three shots of the HPV-16 vaccine did not develop any abnormalities or precancerous cells.
This is wonderful news for millions of women all over the world, however, the study is not completely complete, and the vaccine has certain limitations. This vaccine has the ability to protect women against HPV-16 infection, but does not provide protection against other HPV infections that can cause cervical cancer. It is still unknown how long the vaccine can actually work and prevent pre-cancerous cells, which are already present before the outbreak, from spreading.
Laura A. Koutsky, Ph.D., University Washington in Seattle will continue to follow and monitor all participants until four years to complete the study.
It is so important for women to take care of our bodies. Not only cervical cancers affect us, but also breast cancer. So it is very important that we receive regular procedures and monitors or bodies closely. If you feel sharp changes in your body, then consult your doctor first.
