Cervical cancer, better known as cervical cancer, affects 7 out of every 100,000 women in developed countries. It is a cancer whose main cause is infection by the sexually transmitted Human Papilloma Virus (HPV).
In the European week of cervical cancer prevention, our expert Dr. Torrent Correa describes the symptoms and treatment of this disease. Dr. Torrent is an expert in gynecological cancer and has more than 15 years of experience in the diagnosis and minimally invasive treatment of cervical cancer.
Symptoms of cervical cancer
Cervical cancer develops very slowly, and in the early stages there are usually no symptoms. For this reason, experts in gynecology and patient associations promote during the European week of cervical cancer recommend that all women with an active sex life have an annual check-up with their gynecologist for prevention.
When the pathology begins to develop, the tissues of the cervix undergo various changes at the cellular level, called dysplasia or precancers. These lesions are prone to spread throughout the cervical tissue and develop into cancer. Even once they have reached the limits of the cervix, they can invade tissues such as the vagina, rectum or bladder and metastasize to other parts of the body.
When the pathology has advanced from its initial stages, the first symptoms appear:
- Pain or bleeding during sexual intercourse
- Intense pelvic pain
- Leakage or bleeding outside of menstruation
The key test for cervical cancer prevention is the cervico-vaginal cytology, which detects Human Papillomavirus (HPV) infection and precancerous lesions years before cervical cancer develops.
HPV, the main risk factor for cervical cancer
The cause of cervical cancer in more than 90% of cases is infection by the Human Papilloma Virus (HPV). Other risk factors are:
- Early age of sexual debut
- Number of sexual partners
- Number of pregnancies
- Smoking
- Use of oral contraceptives
- HIV infection
Treatment of cervical cancer
Once the pathology develops, the necessary treatments for cervical cancer are surgery and a combination of radiotherapy and chemotherapy. The choice of one technique or another depends on the stage of the disease, the size of the tumor, the depth of invasion and whether the cancer has spread to other parts of the body. The specialist must also take into account the patient’s age and whether she wants to have children.
There are three types of cervical cancer and in each case a specific type of treatment should be performed.
- Carcinoma in situ: The different treatment options are: conization, internal radiotherapy (brachytherapy) and total hysterectomy, and in most cases the uterus can be preserved.
- Early cervical cancer: Radical hysterectomy with removal of the tissue adjacent to the uterus and pelvic lymph nodes should be performed. In some cases it will also be convenient to apply chemotherapy associated with radiotherapy.
- Advanced cervical cancer: If the cervical cancer has spread beyond the uterus, surgery is not the appropriate treatment, but the patient should be treated with a combination of radiation therapy and chemotherapy.