All About Cervical Cancer

All About Cervical Cancer

In this earth, every two minutes a woman dies because of cervical cancer. Even, in development countries, cervical cancer is in the top rank of death because of cancer. Because of this reason, it is very important to know the facts about this disease. Don't hesitate to do pap smear test if you are a sexually active woman. Below are things we had better know about cervical cancer:

1. What is Cervical Cancer?
Cervical cancer is a kind of abnormal growth of cells in the cervix, that is the narrow part of a woman's womb where it joins the vagina. Start from cervix, in the late stage, this cancer could be spreaded to the other parts in whole body.

2. How danger is this disease?
According to World Health Organization (WHO) data, from 15.000 cervical cancer cases, about 8000 cases end by death. Why is this cancer so dangerous? Because this sickness is undetected until the late stage.

3. What is the cause of cervical cancer?
Cervical cancer is caused by HPV (Human Papilloma Virus). This virus
has 100 type, most of the type are not dangerous and can be disappear even when we do nothing. HPV that cause cervical cancer, the most dangerous and the most fatal are type 16 and 18. The abnormal cells in the cervix also can grow because of radiation of chemical pollution in a long term.

4. How does HPV infect?
HPV can infect woman through sexual relationship, especially if a woman has many sexual relationships with many different partners. The infection can happen by transmission through genital organ to genital organ, oral to genital, or manual to genital. The use of condom in intimate relationship cannot prevent the HPV because this virus does not only infect through liquid subtance, this virus can infect through skin touch.

5. What is the symptom of cervical cancer?
In the early stage, this disease is undetected. It is not easy to recognize the symptom of this disease. That's why for woman who is sexually active it is suggested to do cervical smear every two years. Advanced stage sufferer experiences the physical symptoms because of carvical cancer. The symptoms are:
a. Bleeding when doing intimate relationship (contact bleeding)
b. Excess transparent liquid from vagina, which is abnormal.
c. Bleeding between two menstruation cycles
d. Drastically weight reduction
e. If cancer has been spreaded to pelvis, the sufferer will feel painful in her back, has difficulty when urinate, and also abscess on the kidney.

6. How long is the incubation process?
* Preinvasif process : the growth of abnormal cells before become a ferocity/viciousness. This disease grows in a long term so the sufferer who detect this disease at the early stage can do many steps to overcome this disease. The advanced infection will cause abnormal cell growth and will direct to cancer growth. The growth will take 5 to 20 years, starting from infection, pre-cancer and finally become cervical cancer.

7. Is it true that a smoker has the higher risk of cervical cancer?
There are many researches that prove relationship between smoking habit with cervical cancer sufferer. One of the researchers was done in Karolinska Institute in Sweden and was published in British Journal of Cancer in year 2001. According to Joakam Dillner, M.D., the chief of the research, the nicotine and other "poison" which enter blood through the smoke will enhance "cervical neoplasia" or the growth of abnormal cells in the womb. Cervical neoplasia is the early condition of cervical cancer in the body.

8. Who does have great risk?
a. 35-50 years old women.
b. Woman who is having sexual relationship before 16 years old. Doing sexual relationship in the early age can enhance the risk of cervical cancer.
c. Woman who has multiple sexual partners.
d. Woman who experience many pregnancies.
e. Has a partner who has had sexual contact with a woman with cervical cancer
f. Someone who is infected by HIV
g. Woman whose the result of pap smear is abnormal
h. Malnutrition women
i. Woman with tight diet
j. Woman who is lacking vitamin A, C, and E, so cause low immunity of her body.

9. How to detect?
Do pap smear, which is the standard method of cervical cancer. There is also test with acetate acid, which is easier and cheaper. For more accurate result, there is new technique to detect cervical cancer that is technology of Hybrid Capture II System (HCII).

10. Can we prevent cervical cancer?
Yes, we know the cause of cervical cancer.
- Don't do sexual relationship with many different partners.
- Take cervical smear every two year.
- Take care your body healthiness.
- Take HPV vaccination, especially for woman who never do sexual relationship.

11. How does HPV vaccination work?
This vaccine works by enhancing the immunity of the body and catch the HPV virus before entering cervix. This vaccine is effective for 9 to 26 years old women who don't often do sexual relationship. By this vaccine, the risk of cervical cancer can be reduced by 75%.

12. Does the vaccine have side effect?
This vaccine has ben tested to thousand women around the world and have not shown dangerous side effect. The usual side effect are fever. This vaccine is prohibited for pregnant woman,

13. Can someone who is infected by cervical cancer be healed?
Usually the victim come to hospital in stage 3 of cancer. The problem, in this stage, the cancer has broken body organs like kidney. The surgery sometimes can do nothing to make the victim healthy as previous condition. Beside surgery, the victim still has to take further therapies like radiation and chemotherapy. This action cannot guarantee that the victim will be 100% healed.

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