Facts about cervical cancer.

Saturday, December 15, 2012
Facts about cervical cancer.

fact 1. Cervical cancer is a cancer of the cervix.

fact 2. The cervix is the most important organ in the reproductive system.

fact 3. The human papilloma virus (HPV) is the main cause of the disease.

fact 4. The main way to contract the human papilloma virus is through sexual intercourse.

fact 5. Multiple sexual partners increase the risk of contracting HPV. Early sexual activity can also be a problem, due to the none-mature cell's increased ability to take on cancer cell growth.

fact 6. Cervical cancer is almost impossible to detect by oneself.

fact 7. Cervical cancer is a treatable survivable disease, especially with early detection.

fact 8. World wide, cervical cancer is the second most widely diagnosed cancer in women.

fact 9. In America,it is estimated that 12 thousand new cases of invasive cervical cancer will be diagnosed each year.

fact 10. We still lose between four and five thousand women a year to full stage cervical cancer.

fact 11. Most of the women who lose their lives due to cervical cancer NEVER had a pap smear.

fact 12. Anemia is frequently associated with cervical cancer, also, weight loss, fatigue, leg and severe lower back pain and the loss of regular appetite.

other symptoms to look for are

1. vaginal bleeding after intercourse

2. unusual vaginal discharge

3. pain during sexual intercourse

4. pelvic pain

5. heavy bleeding between menstrual cycle

6. increased urinary frequency

fact 13. Regular check-ups and clean habits are the simplest approach to preventing cervical cancer.

fact 14. The surest way to stay on top of this cancer is through a pap smear, performed quite painlessly by your gynecologist.

fact 15. Most pap smear test results come back with a class 1 rating. There are, however, 5 class ratings and in degree's of severity here is a breakdown.

class 1. normal

class 2. inflammation or irritation.

class 3. cervical dysphasia, this can range from mild to serious.

class 4. is one of a variety of cancers or pre-cancers.

class 5. is one of full on serious invasive cervical cancer signs.

fact 16. If your pap test comes back class 3 or above you will need to get an immediate second opinion from a different laboratory with a second opinion from another doctor. If that test comes back with signs of dysphasia, an outpatient procedure known as a cone biopsy is the next step to rule out cervical cancer.

fact 17. If cervical cancer is detected, do not prolong treatment. If left unchecked the disease can spread to the vagina and surrounding tissue.

fact 18. This disease can potentially damage the bodies reproductive organs and diminish the capacity for women to have children.

fact 19. The infected cancer cells can be surgically removed.

fact 20. A combination of chemotherapy and radiation (chemo-radiation) is very effective in the treatment of cervical cancer.

As of this writing ,June of 2006 there has been a shot developed and approved by the FDA to combat cervical cancer head on.

fact 21. This cervical cancer shot claims it has the potential to all but eradicate cervical cancer in our lifetime. It is a vaccination for the human papilloma virus (HPV).

fact 22. It might be a hard pill to swallow for some parents to take their adolescent girl (8 to 13 yr. old) in for a vaccination against a sexually transmitted disease. Some parents believe this will give the child a green-light to start having under-age sex.

fact 22. The HPV vaccine may be used on adolescent boys too!, before they become sexually active.

fact 23. If the HPV vaccine is to gain wide spread acceptance it will need to be promoted as a cancer prevention vaccine instead of a vaccine for sexually transmitted diseases.

fact 24. Some experts who are fighting this disease are hopeful that the HPV vaccine be included with other adolescent shots such as the meningitis vaccine, only time will tell.

fact 25. Early detection makes this a very treatable disease.

By: → Darren Crumbleholme

Signs Of Ovarian And Cervical Cancer

Saturday, December 8, 2012
Most women have heard of cancer of the cervix. It is one of the reasons you are pressured so much to see your doctor once a year and have a pap smear done. Cervical cancer is a very serious disease that all women should be aware of and take measures to prevent. It is the second leading type of cancer found in women today. However, if you have a routine exam yearly then it greatly reduces the risk of you having this disease. It helps to reduce the risk by allowing your doctor to find and treat the cancer before it has time to spread and turn into invasive cancer. So what causes cancer of the cervix?

Cervical cancer is when cancer cells develop in the lining of a woman’s cervix. The cervix is the lower part of womb or uterus. African Americans, Native Americans and Hispanic are in the high risk category for this disease. It is also very common in middle age women and older. It does take time for cancer of the cervix to develop which is why early screening is important. When cancer develops normal cells begin to deform and change into cancer cells. They go through a process when the cells are in a precancerous stage and if not treated it changes into cancer. Flat but scaly surface cells line the cervix and this is the most common place that invasive cancer of the cervix develops.

Although the cause of cancer of the cervix is not known there are certain factors that increase the risk of developing this type of cancer. The sexually transmitted disease called human papillomavirus or HPV for short is highly associated with invasive cancer of the cervix. Other factors that increase your chances of developing cancer of the cervix include a history of sexual transmitted diseases, having multiple partners and having sex when very young. Women who smoke double their risk of developing cancer of the cervix. It is very important for a woman to have regular routine exams to help find this condition early so they can receive treatment and prevent invasive cancer of the cervix from developing.

The beginning stages of cancer of the cervix normally do not have any warning signs. In fact, you may feel perfectly fine. The main way to detect this cancer in its early stages is by the annual routine exams. This test will show if precancerous cells are developing. As the cancer progresses you may develop signs such as a vaginal discharge that is yellow and has a noticeable smell. Abnormal vaginal bleeding may occur and you may experience lower back pain, pain during sex and painful urination. If cancer of the cervix is not treated then it will spread to other organs in the surrounding areas. If left untreated to long it can become life threaten and be too late to receive treatment of any value. Once the cancer spreads to vital organs there is not much that can be done therefore, it is imperative that all women receive regular monthly exams.

By: → James Kronefield

Vaccine For Cervical Cancer

Sunday, December 2, 2012
A women's medical group is fighting cervical cancer by issuing guidelines that call for inoculating all girls ages 11 and 12. More than 10,000 new cases of cervical cancer will be diagnosed in the United States this year. At least 3,500 women will die.

However, a controversy has started a year, or more, before the vaccine will be ready for the public. In the hopes of heading off a confrontation, officials from the developing companies -- Merck & Co. and GlaxoSmithKline -- are meeting with advocacy groups to try to relieve their concerns. Merck is creating the drug to be used on 11 – 26 year old women.

"The guidelines state that routine vaccination with Gardasil is recommended for 11- and 12-year-old females and for females ages 13 to 26 who have not previously been vaccinated or who have not completed the full series, and that vaccination with Gardasil can be started at nine years of age," Merck said in a news release.

The American Medical Women's Association recommends that doctors check all women 30 years and older for the human papillomavirus, or HPV, that may cause the cancer. The 14,000-member group is also lobbying insurance companies to pay for the vaccine.

The group is planning on re-directing attention to the benefits of new tools to fight cervical cancer, which has a kill rate of 230,000 women annually. The association is taking a stand in favor of the vaccine. A politically volatile topic -- HPV can be transmitted through sexual contact.

"We wanted to reaffirm that girls really do need access to this vaccine," said Dr. Susan Ivey,the association's president and an adjunct associate professor at UC Berkeley's School of Public Health. "We wanted to frame the discussion in a public-health context, where what you really want is to make your population resistant to diseases and one way to do that is through vaccination."

The American Medical Women's Association is the first non-government body to recommend routine vaccination for young girls. Doctors say the vaccine is most effective when given before sexual activity starts.

The vaccine targets four strains of human papillomavirus. Many women carry HPV through their entire lifetimes, but most women are able to fight off an infections before they ever realize they have the virus.

Beyond the vaccine, the American Women's Medical Association is advocating wider use of a relatively new test that goes beyond the standard Pap smear that typically is used to check women for cervical cancer.

Christine Baze 38, underwent surgery and radiation and chemotherapy to treat an advanced case of cervical cancer. She hope the vaccine and HPV test will help a hundreds of women avoid her suffering.

"It's incredible the tools that are available to prevent cancer now," she said. "I just don't want anybody to have to go through what I went through ... and the good news is, they don't have to. We have an amazing opportunity to eliminate this cancer."

While the idea of a mandatory vaccine for a sexually transmitted disease has ignited a worldwide moral debate, the release of the drug was approved in the USA in June 2006.

At the moment, Canada is the only country actively proposing the vaccine for both boys and girls as it causes a cosmetic blemish when given to boys.

By: → Ethan Miller