Cervical Cancer Essay

Cervical cancer is when there are malignant cells present in the cervix; it is developed in the lining of the cervix. A cervix is a narrow opening located at the bottom of the uterus that leads into the vagina. Cervical cancer mostly affects women between the ages of 40 and 55. This cancer can be prevented by screening for precancerous cells, and it can also be cured if it is detected at an early stage. Over the past few decades the number of cervical cancer cases has declined dramatically due to a more widespread screening of the disease. Today, it is estimated that 10,000 new

You are older than 65 and you have not had a serious cervical pre-cancer or cancer in the last 20 years.

Cervical cancer is caused by the uncontrollable growth of cells in the cervix, the lower part of the uterus that opens into the vagina. Some signs of cervical cancer are abnormal bleeding in the vagina (between menstrual cycles, after sex, and after menopause), pain in the lower belly, pain during sex, and abnormal vaginal discharge.

Cervical cancer is one type of cancer happening from the cervix due to abnormal growth of cells. There are many reasons to cause cervical cancer. One of them is that the abnormal cells from other parts of body are able to invade or spread to the cervix and cause the abnormal growth. Unfortunately, in early stage, typically no symptoms are seen, and later symptoms may include abnormal vaginal bleeding, pelvic pain, or pain during sexual intercourse. What’s more, when bleeding after sex, it also may indicate the presence of cervical cancer.7

Almost all cervical carcinomas are caused by Human papillomavirus (HPV). Cervical cancer can be a life-threating disease. However, over recent years the occurrence of cervical cancer has declined as well as the chance of dying from it. A huge contributing factor to this decline is the importance of a regular pap smear. A pap smear can find cervical pre-cancer before it turns into cancer. Recently, a vaccine for HPV, has been on the market, which provides close to a 100% protection against pre-cancer and general warts. HPV and cervical cancer are two disease that are closely related. However, each disease effects not only similar populations, but also different populations, as well as having its own signs and symptoms, detection procedures,

There are upwards of forty types of HPV. Along with the genital areas HPV can infect the mouth and throat. HPV can cause genital warts and cancer. It can sometimes go away by itself and people who have it can be asymptomatic. HPV can be passes through genital contact, vaginal sex, anal sex and even oral sex. This can be passed both heterosexually and homosexually. Rarely, pregnant women can pass HPV on to her baby during delivery. According to the CDC 79 million Americans now have HPV and 14 million new cases are found each year. It has become so common that nearly all sexually active people will have at least one type of HPV in a lifetime. 10,300 women per year are diagnosed as having cervical cancer. HPV can be prevented by condom use and having safe monogamous sex

In women, HPV can cause infertility and the removal of reproductive organs if cancer occurs. Also the cancers that these cause are very aggressive and can be hard to treat because they are asymptomatic and can lie dormant for year and years. So by the time of diagnosis it is sometimes too far advanced. This is why even if a woman was to get a vaccine it is still extremely important to go to the gynecologist for a pap smear because although the newer Gardasil protects against many different strains, viruses that it

Women with many sexual partners: Having multiple sexual partners is an important reason for cervical cancer. This journal articles (Peters et al., 1986) talks about multiple sexual partners being one of the main reasons for having invasive squamous cell carcinoma which is a type of cervical cancer. For those women who are under 20 and have multiple sexual partners, chances of having cervical cancer

If you have a Pap test taken they can usually find the cervical cancer early. Cervical cancer may spread if not treated early. It could spread from the cervix to the vagina, and then into deeper tissue layers of connective tissue around the uterus. Then if it spreads further it would go to the pelvic lymph nodes and other pelvic organs. This could cause problems with the kidney and bowel functions and

Signs and symptoms of oropharyngeal cancer include a lump in the neck and a sore throat.

By limiting the number of sexual partners one has, getting vaccinated, and using condoms, one can significantly reduce his or chances of contracting a high risk HPV that can cause a cancer(1). A study in Australia has proved the effectiveness of the vaccine. Nathan Seppa in his article, “HPV vaccination proves its worth in Australia” states that, "Those who received all three shots were 54 percent as likely as unvaccinated women to have precancerous cervical growth and two-thirds as likely to have other abnormal cervical cell growth”(2). This demonstrates that there are steps people can take to prevent contracting HPV and in turn prevent cancers associated with certain HPVs.

Other vaginal infections such as bacterial Vaginosis; common sexually transmitted diseases (STDs) like gonorrhea, Chlamydia and Trichomoniasis; Human Papillomavirus (HPV) infections that cause genital warts and can lead to cervical cancer; Pelvic Inflammatory Disease (PID)

Cervical cancer has caused life to be difficult for women who have been diagnosed with it. It is hard for them to continue with a normal life due to treatments and just worrying about what could happen to them. Another complication with cervical cancer is your ability to have children. But, there are ways to prevent cervical cancer that everyone should be educated with.

In Cytology the majority of the samples received are part of the NHS (National Health Service) cervical screening programme. This programme facilitates the screening of cervical smears slides, looking for abnormal cells in a woman’s cervix, that may go on to form cervical cancer. 99.7 % of cervical cancers are caused by a sexually transmitted infection called Human Papilloma Virus (HPV). There are over a hundred different types of the HPV virus and certain ones are counted as more ‘high risk’. 80% of the population will have HPV at some point in their lives and in most cases their immune system will get rid of it within a couple of years. Scientists still don't understand why some women are able to clear the infection, while in others the

Cervical cancer is one of the leading causes of cancer related mortality in countries such as India accounting for more than 17% of all cancer deaths in women aged 30-69. [3] Cervical cancer is one such type of cancer in which screening plays a significant role. Clinical trials done in below poverty level populations do encounter ethical issues to a certain extent with regards to informed consent as most or all of these patients are illiterate. However informed consent is extremely important when justifying data for such clinical trials. Countries such as US have implemented Pap smear screening as one of the most important cervical cancer screening methods. In countries as densely populated as India where proper healthcare facilities does not reach slums and extremely poverty stricken societies, alternatives for screening are indicated- VIA or Visual inspection with acetic acid