What you should know about cervical cancer
Cervical cancer is the second most common malignancy in women worldwide and remains one of the leading causes of cancer-related death among women in developing countries. The condition usually affects women who are middle-aged or older, but it can be diagnosed in any woman of reproductive age. woman. Cervical tumors are classified as preinvasive, in which the lower third of the epithelium contains abnormal cells, or invasive, in which the entire thickness of the epithelium contains abnormally proliferating cells.
Cervical cancer develops in the lining of the cervix, the lower part of the uterus (womb) that enters the vagina. These cancers don’t always spread, but the ones that do most often spread to the lungs, liver, bladder, vagina, and/or rectum.
Because
Cervical cancer almost always develops from cell changes caused by the human papillomavirus (HPV), which is spread through skin-to-skin genital contact during sexual activity. It also seems more common in women who smoke. Sexual activity that increases the risk of HPV and HIV infection and cervical cancer include: having multiple sexual partners or having sex with a promiscuous partner, history of sexually transmitted diseases, sexual intercourse at a young age.
Signs and symptoms
The early stages can be completely asymptomatic. Symptoms of advanced cancer may include: loss of appetite, weight loss, fatigue, pelvic pain, back pain, leg pain, one swollen leg, heavy bleeding from the vagina, leakage of urine or stool from the vagina, and fractures bony.
Diagnosis
The Papanicolaou (Pap) smear test has been used to detect precancerous lesions in asymptomatic women for the past 50 years. Although the Pap smear is an effective screening test, confirmation of the diagnosis of cervical cancer or pre-cancer requires a biopsy of the cervix. Cervical intraepithelial neoplasia, the precursor to cervical cancer, is often diagnosed through examination of cervical biopsies by a pathologist.
Other risk factors
Women with diets low in fruits and vegetables may be at higher risk. Research suggests that the risk of cervical cancer increases the longer a woman takes oral contraceptives, but the risk decreases again once oral contraceptives are stopped. Women who have had many full-term pregnancies have a higher risk of developing cervical cancer.
Prevention
Cervical cancer is the easiest female cancer to prevent, because a vaccine and screening test are available. The vaccine known as Gardasil offers protection against the most dangerous types of HPV and recently published results indicate that new cervical tumors can be reduced by up to 97% in areas where vaccination is introduced and maintained.
Treatment
Treatment of cervical cancer depends on the stage of the cancer, the size and shape of the tumor, the woman’s age and general health, and her desire to have children in the future. Appropriate treatment also depends on accurate clinical staging. Preinvasive stages can be treated with total excisional biopsy, cryosurgery, or laser destruction. Invasive therapy for squamous cell carcinoma may include hysterectomy and radiation therapy.
Internal radiation therapy uses a device filled with radioactive material, which is placed inside a woman’s vagina next to the cervical cancer. Some of the drugs used for cervical cancer chemotherapy include 5-FU, cisplatin, carboplatin, ifosfamide, paclitaxel, and cyclophosphamide.
Thirty-five percent of patients with invasive cervical cancer have persistent or recurrent disease after treatment. Recurrent cervical cancer detected in its early stages may be successfully treated with surgery, radiation, chemotherapy, or a combination of all three. Recently, the use of energy strips for pain relief and solar energy strips for nutritional support has received some support.
survival
The chance of being alive in 5 years for cancer that has spread into the walls of the cervix but not outside the cervical area is 92%. However, the 5-year survival rate falls steadily as the cancer spreads to other areas. Recently, the combined use of cisplatin and topotecan was shown to significantly improve survival compared to cisplatin as a single agent. If you combine all the stages together, the five-year survival rate is around 73%.
As the cancer metastasizes to other parts of the body, the prognosis is dramatically reduced because treating local lesions is often more effective than whole-body treatments such as chemotherapy.