The first step towards understanding cervical
cancer is to understand what the cervix is. If you don't already know,
the cervix is a circular muscle at the very top of the vagina. There is
skin on the side of the cervix that faces the vagina and in some
instances, this skin can become cancerous.
Luckily, with cervical cancer, there are a number of stages prior to
the actual development of cancer that can be diagnosed and treated.
These stages include CIN 1, where the cells of the cervix are just
slightly abnormal, CIN2 , where the cells begin to show cancerous
change and CIN 3, where the cells have a fifty percent chance of
becoming cancerous. If caught during these stages, the chances of
survival are very, very good.
Cervical cancer is not something that we can diagnose ourselves. Our
cervix is not something we can see and it's not something we can
usually feel. Because of this, we must go to our physicians for
cervical screening on a yearly basis.
During a cervical screening for cervical cancer, your doctor will
insert a small spatula into the vagina and will scrape off some
cervical cells for testing. These cells are then studied under a
microscope. If the cells do turn out to be CIN 2 or CIN 3, there are
treatments available that will help prevent the patient from developing
cervical cancer.
References:
http://www.aicr.org.uk/cervicalcancerfa.stm?source=Adwords
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