Posted: Wednesday, January 25, 2012 12:15 pm | Updated: 11:58 am, Wed Jan 25, 2012.
Every October, the campaign to raise awareness about breast cancer kicks into high gear. There are television commercials about it, events to fund research, and any item of clothing can be transformed into a pink reminder of the most common cancer among women.
But what about the third most common cancer — cancer of the cervix? The U.S. Congress designated January as Cervical Health Awareness Month, a time for women who either have never been screened for the disease or haven’t for several years to see a health care provider for preventive care.
Thanks to the Let No Woman Be Overlooked program put in place by the N.H. Division of Public Health, women ages 18 to 64 who do not have health insurance can receive free cervical and breast cancer screenings at Cheshire Medical Center/Dartmouth-Hitchcock Keene.
“It’s a timely topic,” said Ann Lent, who works as an advanced registered nurse practitioner in the obstetrics and gynecology department at the hospital. “The new cancer-screening guidelines caused a lot of confusion.”
Updated guidelines issued by the American College of Obstetrics and Gynecology last year suggest women have their first Pap test — which can detect early changes in cells of a woman’s cervix before the changes become cancerous — at age 21, regardless of sexual activity. The guidelines also suggest women receive a Pap test every one to two years. If three Pap tests in a row are normal and there is no indication of disease, a woman’s health care provider may recommend an alternate screening schedule.
Previous guidelines suggested women have their first Pap test at the age they become sexually active, and every year thereafter.
“I had patients I cared for as teens that I was seeing yearly,” Lent said. “Now I’m seeing less and less women for screenings.”
The American Cancer Society estimated that there were 12,710 new cases of invasive cervical cancer (cancer that has spread beyond the cervix) in the United States last year and about 4,290 cervical cancer deaths.
With regular screening, cervical cancer is nearly 100 percent preventable.
“You can see it coming a mile away,” Lent said.
It used to be the leading cause of cancer death among women in the United States, but the numbers have declined over the past 40 years, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The number of deaths from cervical cancer among women in the U.S. decreased 2.2 percent from 1998 to 2007.
The decrease is due to more women receiving a regular Pap test, but it’s also due to the 2006 U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s approval of the vaccine for the human papilloma virus (HPV), the most common sexually transmitted infection. Approximately 95 percent of cervical cancers are associated with HPV infections.
Most of the time, a woman’s body will fight off the virus on its own and resolve within 12 months, with 90 percent of women clearing the virus after two years.
In a small percentage of women, the virus will persist. When it does, it can cause cervical dysplasia, or pre-cancerous abnormal cell growth on the cervix, and the development of cervical cancer. The goal of the HPV vaccine is to inoculate prior to exposure to the virus.
Two years ago, the vaccine was approved for boys and young men between 9 and 26 years old.
Lent said the vaccine lowers a woman’s lifetime cervical cancer risk by 70 percent.
There isn’t a long list of earning warning signs of cervical cancer, but they may include abnormal bleeding between menstrual cycles or bleeding after intercourse, swelling in one leg, or shooting pain down the leg.
A woman diagnosed with moderate or severe dysplasia has a variety of treatment options, including cryotherapy — freezing the cervix to destroy abnormal tissue. Other options include an electrosurgical excision procedure that uses a fine wire loop to remove abnormal tissue. Both are outpatient procedures.
Mild dysplasia is not treated.
“Healthy young women have the option to wait,” Lent said. “The abnormal cells may revert to normal.”
No method — whether to treat dysplasia or cervical cancer — is 100 percent effective, and women should always follow up with their doctor, Lent said.
Although Lent sees patients less often under the new guidelines, she encourages women to come in for an exam every year to talk about individual risk and screening plans.
Lent said her confidence is high that women’s gynecological health will continue to improve as awareness of disease continues to grow.
“Women are good about networking,” she said.
But what about the third most common cancer — cancer of the cervix? The U.S. Congress designated January as Cervical Health Awareness Month, a time for women who either have never been screened for the disease or haven’t for several years to see a health care provider for preventive care.
Thanks to the Let No Woman Be Overlooked program put in place by the N.H. Division of Public Health, women ages 18 to 64 who do not have health insurance can receive free cervical and breast cancer screenings at Cheshire Medical Center/Dartmouth-Hitchcock Keene.
“It’s a timely topic,” said Ann Lent, who works as an advanced registered nurse practitioner in the obstetrics and gynecology department at the hospital. “The new cancer-screening guidelines caused a lot of confusion.”
Updated guidelines issued by the American College of Obstetrics and Gynecology last year suggest women have their first Pap test — which can detect early changes in cells of a woman’s cervix before the changes become cancerous — at age 21, regardless of sexual activity. The guidelines also suggest women receive a Pap test every one to two years. If three Pap tests in a row are normal and there is no indication of disease, a woman’s health care provider may recommend an alternate screening schedule.
Previous guidelines suggested women have their first Pap test at the age they become sexually active, and every year thereafter.
“I had patients I cared for as teens that I was seeing yearly,” Lent said. “Now I’m seeing less and less women for screenings.”
The American Cancer Society estimated that there were 12,710 new cases of invasive cervical cancer (cancer that has spread beyond the cervix) in the United States last year and about 4,290 cervical cancer deaths.
With regular screening, cervical cancer is nearly 100 percent preventable.
“You can see it coming a mile away,” Lent said.
It used to be the leading cause of cancer death among women in the United States, but the numbers have declined over the past 40 years, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The number of deaths from cervical cancer among women in the U.S. decreased 2.2 percent from 1998 to 2007.
The decrease is due to more women receiving a regular Pap test, but it’s also due to the 2006 U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s approval of the vaccine for the human papilloma virus (HPV), the most common sexually transmitted infection. Approximately 95 percent of cervical cancers are associated with HPV infections.
Most of the time, a woman’s body will fight off the virus on its own and resolve within 12 months, with 90 percent of women clearing the virus after two years.
In a small percentage of women, the virus will persist. When it does, it can cause cervical dysplasia, or pre-cancerous abnormal cell growth on the cervix, and the development of cervical cancer. The goal of the HPV vaccine is to inoculate prior to exposure to the virus.
Two years ago, the vaccine was approved for boys and young men between 9 and 26 years old.
Lent said the vaccine lowers a woman’s lifetime cervical cancer risk by 70 percent.
There isn’t a long list of earning warning signs of cervical cancer, but they may include abnormal bleeding between menstrual cycles or bleeding after intercourse, swelling in one leg, or shooting pain down the leg.
A woman diagnosed with moderate or severe dysplasia has a variety of treatment options, including cryotherapy — freezing the cervix to destroy abnormal tissue. Other options include an electrosurgical excision procedure that uses a fine wire loop to remove abnormal tissue. Both are outpatient procedures.
Mild dysplasia is not treated.
“Healthy young women have the option to wait,” Lent said. “The abnormal cells may revert to normal.”
No method — whether to treat dysplasia or cervical cancer — is 100 percent effective, and women should always follow up with their doctor, Lent said.
Although Lent sees patients less often under the new guidelines, she encourages women to come in for an exam every year to talk about individual risk and screening plans.
Lent said her confidence is high that women’s gynecological health will continue to improve as awareness of disease continues to grow.
“Women are good about networking,” she said.
