Tuesday, September 27, 2011

Complete Information of Cervical Cancer

What is cervical cancer?
Cervical cancer is cancer that occurs in the cervical region. This is the area in female reproductive organs of the entrance to the uterus. It lies between the womb (uterus) with a hole intercourse woman (vagina). 99.7% of these cancers are caused by human papilloma virus (HPV) oncogenic, which affects the cervix . Starting occur in the cervix, when it has entered the stage, this cancer can spread to other organs in the body. 
How danger cervical cancer is?
World Health Organization (WHO) said that cervical cancer is ranked top place among the various types of cancer that causes death in women in the world . Why be so dangerous? Because cervical cancer appeared as enemies in a blanket. Difficult to detect until the disease has reached an advanced stage.

What is the cause of cervical cancer?
First, cervical cancer is caused by HPV (Human Papilloma Virus). This virus has more than 100 species, where most of them are harmless and will disappear by itself. HPV is frequently difficult to detect because genital warts are often skin colored and painless, and rarely causes symptoms
Second, other than caused by the HPV virus, abnormal cells on the cervix can also grow due to radiation exposure or contamination of chemicals that occur in the long term and also secondary cervical cancer.

What is cervical cancer symptoms?
In the early stages, cervical cancer causes no symptoms are easily observed. For this reason, people with high risk for cervical cancer is highly recommended to perform a pap smear test once every two years.  Physical symptoms of this disease is usually noticeable only at advanced stage of cancer.
Symptoms of advanced cervical cancer:
    * Emergence of pain and bleeding during intercourse (contact bleeding).
    * Excessive vaginal discharge and abnormal.
    * Bleeding outside of the menstrual cycle.
    * Drastic weight loss.
    * If the cancer has spread to the pelvis, the patient will suffer from back pain complaints
    * Also barriers in urination, and kidney enlargement.


How long this period of growth of cervical cancer?
Pre invasive period (growth of abnormal cells before they become malignant) disease is quite long, so people who detect it at an early stage can perform various steps cure the cancer and have more .
Persistent infection will lead to abnormal cell growth that could eventually lead to cancer development. This development takes between 5-20 years, starting from the stage of infection, pre-cancerous lesions to be positive cervical cancer.

Is it true that smokers' risk of contracting cervical cancer?
There are many studies that the relationship between smoking with increased risk of someone contracting cervical cancer. One is the research conducted at the Karolinska Institute in Sweden and published in the British Journal of Cancer in 2001.
According Joakam Dillner, MD, researcher who led the research, nicotine substance as well as "poison" the other into the blood through the cigarette smoke can increase the likelihood of the condition of cervical neoplasia or abnormal growth of cells in the uterus. "Cervical neoplasia is the initial conditions of developing cervical cancer in a person's body.
Women are prone to cervical cancer are those aged between 35-50 years, especially you who have been sexually active before age 16 years. Sexual intercourse at the age too early could increase the risk of cervical cancer by 2 times compared to women who had sexual intercourse after the age of 20 years.
Cervical cancer is also associated with a number of opposite sex. The more the opposite sex you have, then increasing the risk of cervical cancer. Just as the number of sexual opponent, number of pregnancies that have also experienced increased risk of cervical cancer.

How can I detect cervical cancer
A Pap smear is a standard examination method for detecting cervical cancer but the Pap smear is not designed to detect HPV (only abnormal cervical changes) abnormal changes may indicate HPV infection or another vaginal infection. There is also the type of inspection using acetic acid (vinegar). Using vinegar is acetic acid which is relatively easier and cheaper to do. If you want more accurate results, there is now the latest examination techniques for early detection of cervical cancer, a technology called Hybrid Capture System II (HCII).
How to prevent cervical cancer?
    * Not having sex with a partner who alternated
    * Diligently doing a pap smear every two years for those who are already sexually active
    * And make HPV vaccination for those who have never made contact sexually
    * And of course maintaining a healthy body

Why is an HPV Vaccine an Important
In mid-2006 have been circulating vaccine against infection with HPV types 16 and 18 that cause cervical cancer. This vaccine works by increasing the body's immune and catch the virus before it enters the cells of the cervix.
In addition to fortify from cervical cancer, the vaccine is also working to protect women from the threat of multiple HPV types 6 and 11 that cause genital warts. That need to be emphasized is that this vaccination was only effective when given to girls aged 9 to 26 years who have not been sexually active. The vaccine is given as much as 3 times within a certain timeframe. With vaccination, the risk of cervical cancer can be decreased to 75%.


HPV vaccination side effects
This vaccine has been tested on thousands of women around the world. The results showed no harmful side effects. The most frequent complaints are fever and redness, pain, and swelling at the injection site. The vaccine itself is not recommended for pregnant women. However, nursing mothers should receive this vaccine.

Can cervical cancer be cured?
Since not complain about any symptoms, cervical cancer patients usually come to the hospital when the disease has reached stage 3. The problem is when cervical cancer has reached stage 2 - 4 it means the cancer has resulted in damage to body organs, such as bladder, kidney, and others. Therefore, surgical removal of the uterus alone is not enough to make people recover as usual. In addition to surgery, patients still have to obtain additional therapy, such as radiation and chemotherapy. The move was even not able to guarantee 100% of patients experience healing.