Why Cervical Cancer Screening? Menopausal Patients Need Cervical Cancer Screening

Ms. LN has just been detected and promptly treated for a malignant cancer at an early stage. A 56-year-old female patient, 10 years of menopause, has never had a routine gynecological examination. The patient came to the clinic because of vaginal bleeding, intense urination, and little blood in the urine. The doctor examined the cervix and found that there were warts from the cervical canal that spread to the outer neck about 1 cm in diameter. The patient had a biopsy of the cervical lesion, and histopathology showed a moderately differentiated cervical adenocarcinoma. Pelvic MRI did not show lymph node metastasis. The patient was assigned a total hysterectomy and lymph node dissection with Wertheim Meigs surgery. The surgery was a success and the patient recovered quickly. Postoperative histopathology showed mucinous adenoma malignum grade 2, and the examined nodes showed no metastasis. 

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– Cervical cancer is one of the most dangerous and common diseases in women. However, most cases are detected at a late stage, making treatment difficult.  

Join the American International Clinic (AIH Clinic) to learn and update the necessary information to promptly prevent and protect your health from this dangerous disease! 

 Cervical Cancer is what?  

Cervical cancer is caused by cells in the cervix that grow abnormally out of control. These abnormal cells grow rapidly and create tumors in the cervix. 

 Factors That Increase the Risk of Cervical Cancer  

The leading cause of cervical cancer is infection with the human papilloma virus (HPV) – a sexually transmitted virus.  

There are 12 types of oncogenes in the HPV virus. HPV types 16 and 18 are the two strains with the highest risk of cervical cancer, found in 70% of women with cervical cancer. 

 Other factors that increase the risk of HPV infection and cervical cancer: 

• Early sexually active women have many sexual partners. 
• History of sexually transmitted diseases, such as trichomoniasis, chlamydia trachomatis and genital inflammation caused by herpes simplex virus type 2 (HSV-2)… 
• Long-term use of contraceptives 
• Multiple pregnancies (more than 4) 
• Smoking – Cigarettes containing benzene, vinyl chloride, ammonia, arsenic and nitrosamine compounds will damage DNA and produce genetic mutations, and abnormal cells will multiply rapidly, leading to cancer. Women who smoke have twice the risk of cervical cancer as women who do not smoke. 

• Immune deficiency status, such as HIV infection 
• Someone at home has cervical cancer. 

Cervical Cancer Symptoms 

 Women of all ages are at risk of cervical cancer from the moment they begin having sex. However, in the early stages, there are often no symptoms, so women can be subjective.  

Some cervical cancer symptoms can be recognized early:  

• Abnormal vaginal bleeding after intercourse, abnormal vaginal bleeding after menopause  
• Abnormal vaginal discharge , foul-smelling, or mucus like discharge “fish blood”  
• Painful, sharp, uncomfortable when urinating, bloody urine 

Screening Methods  

Currently, there are common cervical cancer screening methods including: Pap smear (Pap Smear test-PAP Test):  

• Helps detect mutated cells early and will risk becoming cervical cancer if not treated promptly. 
•  HPV test – HPV Test: Finds viruses that can cause cell changes in the cervix. 

 Age of cervical cancer screening  

• Women over 21 years of age are recommended to begin cervical cancer screening with the PAP test every 3 years and the HPV test 
• Women over 30 years of age: Combination of PAP+ HPV test every 3 – 5 years  
• Patients who have had surgery for cervical cancer still need to continue to be screened and the screening should be done more often every 6 – 12 months, examination and smear at the targeted vaginal area Target for local recurrence detection 
•  Age at which to stop screening: Women can be considered to be screened adequately if they are over 65 years of age, 2 consecutive PAP+HPV tests within the past 10 years are negative and the most recent test is 3-5 years. 

 Prognosis  

• If detected as early as stage IA, 5-year survival rate can reach 94-97%  
• Stage IB1 5-year survival rate 89% 
• Stage IB2 5-year survival rate drops to 75% 
• While stage 4 5-year survival rate is very low, 9-20%  

Companion with comprehensive women’s health care, infection and cancer screening package gynecological cancer, including cervical cancer screening service at American International Hospital (AIH Clinic) designed to suit women of different ages at a reasonable cost, will help detect timely diagnose diseases and risk factors for early intervention measures to improve treatment effectiveness.  

Cervical cancer screening is important in detecting cell changes before they develop into cancer. Detecting cancer at an early stage improves the chances of a cure.  

Therefore, do not hesitate to screen for dangerous diseases when there are abnormal signs and schedule periodic health checks for yourself and your family. 

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