Protect your female health: about cervical cancer and why early detection is key to your well-being. Take care of yourself and prevent this disease!
Cervical cancer is a disease that affects more than 600,000 people each year.
women and causes nearly 350,000 deaths worldwide. In fact, a woman dies from cervical cancer every 2 minutes.
This type of cancer originates after many years of suffering from a persistent infection by the human papillomavirus (recognized as its causal agent), which first promotes a malignant transformation in the cells that line the cervix, but without penetrating the cervical tissue. (This is known as dysplasia, or CIN, and is graded from 1 to 3, depending on its severity.) If dysplasia is not detected and treated in time, then it transforms into cancer, a tumor that grows and spreads through the upper third of the vagina, and through the ligaments that support the uterus attached to the pelvis, the parametria.
Cervical cancer is staged by physical examination, gynecological and diagnostic images such as tomography or MRI magnetic nuclear or PET-CT. The first step is to take a biopsy to confirm that it is cancer and then, with said result, and with the results of the tests mentioned above, a stage is assigned, ranging from 1 to 4, depending on its size, location, involvement of neighboring structures, involvement of regional lymph nodes, and unfortunately sometimes, distant involvement, in other organs of the body.
In the early stages, surgery may be offered and, sometimes, depending on the results, radiotherapy (ionizing radiation) and/or complementary chemotherapy may be required. If the cancer is in an advanced stage, primary treatment with concomitant radiotherapy and chemotherapy is administered in order to “destroy” the tumor. The prognosis depends on the stage in which it is diagnosed, and the regions that are affected by the disease, for example, cure rates are higher when an early diagnosis is made.
Cervical cancer is preventable through vaccination, which is free in Colombia. Early detection can also be done through cytology or HPV screening tests. No woman should die from this preventable disease, and that is why the World Health Organization launched a global initiative two years ago to eliminate this disease by proposing: vaccination of 90% of girls before the age of 15, an appropriate screening test at 35 and 45 years (HPV test) for 70% of women, and appropriate treatment for 90% of patients with dysplasia and/or invasive cervical cancer.
At the Astorga Oncology Clinic we invite you to take care of your health and that of your loved ones. Remember to have your cytology done annually to rule out abnormalities!
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