Essay on Common Gynecologic Malignancy: Cervical Carcinoma

This year alone approximately 12,360 documented new cases of cervical cancer in the United States and 4,020 deaths according to National Cancer Institute (“Cervical Cancer”, 2014). Cervical cancer is a slow growing cancer that grows in the tissues of the cervix (an organ that connects the uterus and vagina). The disease is predominantly caused by the human papillomavirus infection (HPV). According to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention, the HPV virus is so common that nearly all sexually active women and men get it at some point in their lives. Many types of HPV exist, some causing genital warts and potentially cervical cancer. Individuals can get HPV by having unprotected genital to genital touching, oral, vaginal, or anal sex. Anyone who is sexually active can get HPV, and can develop symptoms years after they had sex with someone who is infected, making it difficult to know when they first became infected.

One of the most difficult situation APN’s face is delivering a diagnosis which is life threatening. Being diagnosed with cancer can be a devastating experience for both the family and the patient, especially when there are preventable measure that could’ve been done. Cervical cancer in women is largely a preventable disease which impacts women’s health and mortality. One of the leading causes for cervical cancer is the Human Papilloma Virus (HPV), an infection with a working vaccine already in use.

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

Cervical Cancer Early Detection Program Journal of Women’s Health 20(10):1479-84 doi: 10.1089/jwh.2010.2530. Epub 2011 Jul 20

The symptoms of cervical cancer are not always obvious thus the introduction of NHS cervical screening programme. The aim of the NHS Cervical Screening Programme is prevent the number women who die from cervical cancer each year due to not having early diagnoses. Since the introduction of the programme, a report was done between the NHS Cervical Screening Programme and Trent Cancer Registry it found that “Incidence and mortality rates in England have fallen considerably over the past 20 years. During this period, incidence rates decreased by over a third and mortality rates reduced by 60%. Survival, following a diagnosis of cervical cancer has improved in England since the 1980’s from the 83% to 88%”. (NHS, 2012, pp. P10-11).

Some signs and symptoms of cervical cancer are abnormal vaginal bleeding or discharge and pelvic pain and pressure. Cervical cancer is preventable with regular screening tests. One test is a Pap test sometimes also called a Pap smear. This test looks for precancerous cells that

The study was a secondary data analysis of existing patient records (record-based). This study made use of the National Inpatient Sample (NIS) Database .The NIS database was developed by the Healthcare Cost and Utilization Project (HCUP). The NIS is the largest inpatient care database in the United States containing data from 1988 to 2013. It includes about 98 percent of all hospital discharges in the United States. NIS is a sample of hospitals that comprises approximately 95 percent of all hospital discharges in the United States. It consists of over hundred nonclinical and clinical data elements for each hospital stay. The four most recent available calendar years (2010 to 2013) were obtained for the analyses of cervical cancer mortality

In US cervical cancer is ranked 13th most common cancer in women and 4th among women between 15 to 44 years.

Among the 12, 200 new cases of cervical cancer ninety-percent of them are caused or attributed to HPV.

Although ICRT is the most common and important type of brachytherapy used in treatment of invasive carcinoma cervix, some of the patients, particularly those with tumors that involve the distal one 3rd of vagina, may be technically difficult to treat with an adequate dose with ICRT alone. In a small number of such patients, lesions in distal 1/3rd of vagina may need treatment with an additional dose of radiation therapy delivered using 192Ir placed inide the lesion as interstitial implants. The use of interstitial therapy as an effective alternative to ICRT has been advised by some radiation oncologists for treatment of locally advanced cervical cancers [76, 77]. With interstitial implants, needles are introduced transperineally into the uterine

“4,210 deaths have occurred with cervical cancer.”(cancer.net) 12,820 women in the U.S will be diagnosed. If the cancer has spread from the cervix to other parts it’s a five year survival rate is 17 percent. The 5 year survival rate tells you what percent of women live at least 5 years after the cancer is found. The 5 year survival rate for all women with cervical cancer is 68%. For white women, the 5 year survival rate are 69%. For african american women the survival rate is 57%. “More than 15% of cases of cervical cancer are found in women over 65.” “(key statistics)” In the United States, Hispanic women are most likely to get cervical cancer, followed by African Americans, Asians and Pacific Islanders and whites. American Indians and Alaskan natives have the lowest risk of cervical cancer in this country. Cervical cancer rates for women have gone up every year for women and if we don’t find better treatments we won’t get to point of curing this

There are usually no symptoms or signs of CIN, and the diagnosis is most often based on biopsy findings following an abnormal routine cervical cytology smear. Because high-grade dysplasia probably is a transitional phase in the pathogenesis of many cervical cancers, early detection is extremely important. Based on the American Cancer Society guidelines, which were last revised in 2002, all women who have reached age 21 years, or who are 3 years past coitarche, should have a pelvic examination and collection of a cytologic smear. The cervical cytology smear should be performed annually in case of conventional Papanicolaou (Pap) smears, and biannually if using liquid-based cytology. Once a patient is age 30 years or older and has had 3 consecutive

As many as 1,400 women in Canada are diagnosed with cancer of the cervix each year. More than 400 die from it (Mah et al, 2011).

Methods: We analyzed primary cervical carcinomas, peri-tumor biopsies and lymph nodes in 20 women with invasive cancer (FIGO stage I-II) who underwent radical pelvic surgery and lymphonodectomy. HPV DNA was searched by broad spectrum PCR in 142 DNA samples extracted from paraffin embedded tissues. Viral genotypes were identified by direct sequencing analysis.

In the United States, it is one of the eight-most common cancer of women. According to researches, the data shows that Hispanic women are significantly more likely to be diagnosed with cervical cancer than the general population and their median age at diagnosis is 48. In 1998, about 12,800 women were diagnosed in the US and about 4,800 died. Among cancers of the female reproductive tract, it is less common than endometrial cancer and ovarian cancer. The rates of new cases in the United States was 7 per 100,000 women in 2004. Cervical cancer deaths decreased by approximately 74% in the