Cervical Cancer

Cervical Cancer is a type of cancer that starts as abnormal tissue growth around the cervix, briefly before spreading throughout the body hampering normal functioning. It can be diagnosed in early stages and detected by having cervical screenings like the pap test, or the cancer may spread in the uterus showcasing symptoms like abnormal vaginal bleeding, back pain etc.

Also, it is the most common cancer  found in women, comprising up to 90% of all women's cancers. Generally it is caused by the HPV virus, which anyone can get infected by various reasons, including but not limited to: sexual contact with many individuals, use of birth control, weak immune system etc. However, not all women infected by HPV get this type of cancer. Early and effective treatment has surged the 5-year survival rate in US to 68% with a combined use of radiotherapy, chemotherapy and surgery.

Signs and Symptoms

There may not be many indications of it in early stages but once the cancer surfaces and starts to multiply in the vaginal canal, there are a handful of signs and symptoms that can be an alarming bell :

●      Abnormal vaginal bleeding

●      Mass discharge from vagina

●      Discomfort while sexual intercourse

●      Pelvic Pain

Symptoms of a rapidly growing cervical cancer may include weight loss, nausea, leg pain, swollen legs, heavy vaginal bleeding and rarely, it may also cause feces leakage from the vagina.

Causes and Prevention:

The most common cause of cervical cancer in women is HPV or the human papillomavirus, while smoking, using excessive birth control and having multiple pregnancies are also factors known to cause cervical cancer.

HPV is known to contribute to 90% of cervical cancers in the world, however it is worth being informed that not all HPV infections result in a cancer.

Out of 150-200 types of HPV known to medicine, HPV 16 and 18 cause about 75% of all the cervical cancer cases. These cases can be easily prevented by a HPV vaccine that targets the two papillomavirus classes.

Other prevention techniques aim at educating women to quit smoking, taking a balanced diet and encouraging them to practise safe sex.

Family planning can also reduce the chances of getting the cancer, as researchers found out in many studies that women who had more (7 or more) full-time pregnancies had four times the risk of developing the cancer as compared to women with no pregnancies and two-to-three times the risk when compared to women with two or more full-time pregnancies.

Treatment:

Treatment of a cancer usually depends upon the stage at which it is detected, if detected early the cancer can successfully treated. Age, health and quality of living are crucial aspects to the treatment.

There are four types of treatment to cervical cancer, they are:

●      Surgery may be performed to remove the cancerous tissues, keeping in mind patient desire to have children in the future. To ensure such conditions, fertility sparing surgeries are performed.

●      Radiation therapy weakens the cancerous cells through high-dose radiation in the vaginal cavity. They are removed through surgery afterwards.

●      Chemotherapy This type of treatment is usually used in very late stage cancer types, using medicines that target cancerous cells and weakens them.

●      Chemoradition is a mixed use of chemotherapy and radiation therapy, which is used in middle to late stage cancers.

After evaluating and detecting the type, stage and condition of the cancer, medical professional studies the case and offers a treatment option which seems more feasible than others.

Success rate is 100% for women with emergence form of cancer, but drops to 90% 5-year success rate for women with Stage 1, subsequently dropping to 75% and 30% for women with Stage 2 and Stage 3 cancer. Stage 4 cancer leaves the successful treatment rate to 15%, as the cancer has already spread in the vaginal cavity, disrupting normal cellular activity.