Cervical Cancer

Symptoms, causes and treatment for Cervical Cancer

Namashkar. Hello, I’m Dr. Shalini Tiwari. I’m a gynaecologist practicing at East Delhi Surya Hospital. Aaj main apko cervical cancer ke bare mein kuch batana chahti hoon.

Today in India, there are so many women who are dying due to cervical cancer. It is one of the most common cancers in the world due to which women are affected. Why today I’m talking about cervical cancers? Today, sexual relations are on rise. Even young women like 16, 17, 18 year old are going for sexual relationship. I’m not saying that sexual relationship is wrong, but why I am talking about cervical cancer is because sexual relationships are one of the highest factors of cervical cancers. So let’s understand what actually cervical cancer is. To understand this, we need to know what cervix is. So I’d like to tell you that we have a uterus where our baby is grown and then born afterwards.

See, this is the uterus, and this is the cervix. So just as we have our face, as we have our lips, so our uterus has lips which is known as cervix. It is this portion which is affected most. Why? Because during sexual intercourse, due to repeated infections, and anything which is outside and which is externally entering into the vagina, first it will infect or affect this part of the uterus. This is known as cervix. So any infection, any erosion, any bleeding, any white discharge, anything which is affecting the cervix can give rise to cervical cancer. This is a very broad statement, there are definite…there are definitely some definite reasons, definite viruses which give rise to this cancer.

Coming on to symptoms of cervical cancer. So many of us have irregular menstrual bleeding, but we tend to ignore it. We should not. Abnormal menstrual bleeding is one of the finest and one of the earliest symptom of cervical cancer. So please don’t ignore it and visit your gynaecologist. Now you would like to know what abnormal bleeding is? So abnormal bleeding would be bleeding after intercourse, abnormal bleeding would be bleeding in between menstrual cycles, abnormal bleeding can be excessive bleeding during regular cycles. So any three of them, if it is there, you please visit your doctor, and get yourself checked.

Why so much of a hush-hush over cervical cancer all over the world? Because, number 1, it is common, number 2, it is a preventable cancer. It is a very slow growing cancer. It starts from the cervix, and then gradually gradually gradually it involves all of the uterus. But this gradual is so much that if we diagnose it, it can be actually cured 100%. That’s why we really need to be careful. You should be having a regular checkups, all women, specially all sexually active women. You should have regular checkups.

So what are the preventive checkups for cervical cancer?

•  Pap test. All of us know Pap test. It is being advertised in TV, it is being advertised by WHO off and on. So every sexually active woman should get a Pap test every three years.
• Similarly there is a virus called HPV virus, i.e, Human papillomavirus. This virus is a sexually transmitted virus. And if this virus is there, there are high chances that patient will develop cervical cancer. Though once infected with this virus, it doesn’t mean that it will be there throughout your life. Because it titles goes down in one year or two years, but then there are two specific types, like 16 type and 18 type of HPV virus, which can really give your body a potentiality to grow into cervical cancer. So you should get your HPV testing also done.
• Third is colposcopy. Colposcopy is a screening test, and through colposcopy we see the cells of cervix directly under acetic acid, which really helps us to diagnose if the cells can grow into cancers, or these cells are benign cells. And these three tests are absolutely noninvasive tests, non-painful tests, and just OPD procedure for two to three or five minutes maximum. So you should…all of you should get these tests dine regularly. Number three, supposing we do these tests, and we diagnose that element of cancer is there. So if it is in initial stages, like we call it carcinoma, you won’t believe, to treat this we don’t even need to do hysterectomy. This is just we need to do a cryo, ye ek prakar ki thandi si  jo layman ki bhasha mein bolte hain, or use puri tarah ye erosion theek ho jata hain. Uske baad use jo cervical cells hote hain cancer waale, wo bhi mar jaate hain. And the chances of progressing into a frank carcinoma becomes almost negligible.

That’s why cervical cancer is everywhere. So we need to be very careful, we need to be very vigilant. Our health is in our hands. So if we are not vigilant about our health, no one else is going to tell us, please go to the doctor. Humein pata hona chahiye ki hamare mein infection ho raha hain, white discharge humein zyaada ho raha hain, bleeding humein zyaada ho rahi hain, so ;et’s viosit the doctor.

In the end, agar apko dikhana hain, aap chahte hain ki aap cervical cancer se bachein rahein, please come to me. I sit as Surya Hospital in East Delhi, or you can contact me through Lybrate. Thank you.