cervical cancer

Cervical cancer is a tumour of the cervix. It is a common cancer in women and can be prevented by detecting precancerous cells in a cervical smear.
The cervix is the part of the womb, which projects into the vagina. It measures less than one inch across and about one and a half inches in length. It is a block of a special type of muscle covered by a thin layer of surface cells. Cancer of the cervix develops in these surface cells, which first start to grow in an abnormal way (precancerous cells). After about 10 years, the precancerous cells turn into actual cancer cells, which spread into the muscle of the cervix, surrounding tissue and then to other parts of the body.
Precancerous cells in the cervix seem to develop after an infection of the cervix by a sexually transmitted virus called human papilloma virus. This virus also causes genital warts.
Other factors associated with the development of cervical cancer include things such as early start of periods, pregnancy as a teenager, having more than a few sexual partners or a sexual partner who has had several sexual partners, smoking and infection with a sexually transmitted disease at any time.
The cervix is probably more at risk to infection by human papilloma v

If precancerous cells are seen in a cervical smear, an expert using a microscope that is inserted into the vagina inspects the cervix more closely. This procedure is otherwise known as colposcopy. During colposcopy, small pieces of tissue, biopsies, are removed for a more detailed inspection under a microscope in the laboratory. It usually takes a week or two after the colposcopy for the results of the biopsies to come back and they will show whether the precancerous cells have turned into cancer cells. The precancerous cells are destroyed during colposcopy using either heat (eg, laser) or cold (eg, cryosurgery) or by removing them (eg, cone biopsy).

Cancer that has spread to other pelvic organs, but is still in its early stages, can often be cured by surgery or radiotherapy, with 5-year survival rates of between 50% and 80%. Advanced cancer has a 5-year survival rate of between 10% and 30%, but this is much improved to between 30% and 50% for those who undergo radical surgery.

Chemotherapy (cancer-killing drugs) is used to treat cervical cancer that has spread to other parts of the body, as surgery and radiation therapy can’t reach all the cancerous cells. Chemothera