Detect cervical cancer at early stage

Pensacola, FL

According to the American Cancer Society, more than 1,400,000 people in the United States were diagnosed with cancer last year.

February is "National Cancer Prevention Month". By keeping yourself healthy, you can help prevent some types of cancer.

One of the types is cervical cancer. Cervical cancer can be detected by your gynocologist. It's important to have regular pap smears to prevent cervical cancer, which is caused by the STD human papillomavirus.

"In the united states, HPV counts for about 20 million new infections per year. In fact, about 80 percent of all women will acquire HPV by time they're 50-years-old," said Dr. Rodney Rocconi, U.S.A. Mitchell Cancer Institute.

Dr. Rocconi said sometimes HPV is asymptomatic, and if it's left untreated, some types can cause cancer. But with regular pap smears, at least once a year, cancer can be prevented.

"It usually develops over a period of years into a pre-invasive disease so there's some subtle changes that happens to the cervix that smolder for years without symptoms. So what's very important for women is to make sure they get their pap smears on time so that you can catch it in those pre-invasive states. When done so and done properly, those are always curable cases so it's very important," he said.

If a woman does develop abnormal cells on her cervix, and the cells are detected early on, they can be destroyed.

"Treatment for pre-invasive disease is quite easy. It involves either laser, freezing the cells, sometimes even removing parts of the cells like a biopsy. And those types of surgeries can preserve fertility which is important in the young patient population. Early cervical cancers also have a fairly good cure rate as well," said Dr. Rocconi.

He said prevention is key. That's why it's so important for early screening. He also says women should spread the word to female friends and family to get screened, because it could save their lives.

Dr. Rocconi also suggests that woman get vaccinated against the cancer causing strains of HPV. The Gardasil vaccination has been approved by the FDA for girls as young as nine-years-old.

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Pap smear test first line of defense against cervical cancer

Maryville, TN

Don't be telling Dr. Kim Collins you don't have time for your Pap test, or that it's uncomfortable, or that you don't like going to the doctor. She's not buying those excuses.

“Just woman up and do it,” Collins said.

Collins, an obstetrician/gynecologist with Women's Care Group in Maryville, said the importance of having a Pap test cannot be overemphasized. This simple test can detect potential problems in their earliest stages, allowing treatment to begin before the condition becomes cervical cancer. Cervical cancer is a slow growing cancer caused by certain strains of the human papillomavirus (HPV), an extremely common sexually transmitted disease among women and men.

Cervical cancer has no warning signs in early stages. This is why Pap tests are so important. In the Papanicolaou (Pap) test, cells are gathered from the cervix and then examined closely under a microscope for abnormalities. Collins said cervical cancer rates in the United States have fallen more than 50 percent in the past 30 years thanks to the widespread use of the Pap test.

New guidelines for Pap screenings were released in December 2009. Rather than an annual Pap test, women ages 21 to 29 may be screened every two years, and women 30 and above every three years as long as they have had three negative Paps in row. Collins emphasized that an annual physical exam is still indicated because it involves much more than the one test.

According to the Tennessee Department of Health, risk factors for cervical cancer include high-risk sexual behavior; a personal and/or family history of cervical cancer; cigarette smoking; and previous HPV infection. African-American women are more prone to develop cervical cancer than Caucasian and Hispanic women are.

As for having Pap tests, Collins won't accept any excuses for avoiding them.

“I tell my patients this about mammograms and Pap tests,” Collins said. “Is this your favorite thing to do? No. But, when they say this is painful or uncomfortable, my response is, ‘Not as uncomfortable as surgery and radiation and chemotherapy.' There are worse things. If you eventually get diagnosed, you're headed for far more discomfort and pain.”

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Free cervical cancer screenings offered in Valdosta, Florida

Tallahassee,FL

South Georgia Medical Center invites all women who have not had a pap smear in at least three years to get one for free tonight at the Pearlman Cancer Center.

The American Cancer Society says more than 11,270 new cases of invasive cervical cancer were detected last year.

Doctors encourage women to keep up with regular screenings.

"Pap smears actually detect pre-cancerous legions, which is a great advantage in the sense of heading off cancer," said Dr. Boland Woodward, an obstetrician-gynecologist with Southern OB/GYN in Valdosta.

Screenings and breast exams are being offered today at the Pearlman Cancer Center until 7 p.m. But the latest is that they're full with pre-scheduled appointments. And walk-ins will no longer be offered tonight.

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Importance of Pap Smear Test cervical cancer screening emphasized by Missouri doctor

Osage Beach, MO

During Cervical Cancer Screening Month and Cervical Health Awareness Month in January, physicians with Lake Regional Health System in Osage Beach, Mo., are encouraging women and parents of young girls to learn more about early detection and prevention.

“It’s important that women know about this disease,” said Gynecologist Becky Simpson, M.D., with Lake Area Women’s Center in Osage Beach. “It can be treated if detected early, and most cases now can be prevented.”

According to the American Cancer Society, nearly 12,000 U.S. women are diagnosed with cervical cancer each year, and about 4,000 die from it. However, more lives are being saved thanks to increased use of the Pap test — the screening procedure used to find changes in the cervix before cancer develops — and a recently approved vaccination.

Almost all cases of cervical cancer are caused by the Human Papillomavirus — the most common sexually transmitted disease. If an HPV infection isn’t treated or doesn’t clear on its own, it eventually can result in cervical cancer.

“The fastest, easiest way to detect HPV is through an annual Pap test,” Dr. Simpson said. “During this test, we take a sample of cells from the cervix, which is the bottom part of the womb. The cells then are examined for abnormalities or infections, which can be early signs of cancer.”

If an HPV infection is detected and the abnormal cells are treated early, most cases of cervical cancer can be prevented. For this reason, doctors recommend annual Pap tests and pelvic exams for women ages 18 and older, or those who have become sexually active.

Doctors also encourage women ages nine to 26 to get vaccinated against HPV. The vaccine, Gardasil, is a series of three vaccines. They help protect against four types of HPV, two of which cause 70 percent of cervical cancer cases.

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U.S. experts mixed on whether HPV Test should replace Pap Smear Test to diagnose cervical cancer

Norwalk, CN

DNA testing for the human papillomavirus should replace the Pap smear as the main way to screen women for cervical cancer, according to Italian researchers.

Their recommendation is based on a study that found that the human papillomavirus (HPV) test prevented more cases of cervical cancer than the conventional Pap smear. Results of the study were published online Jan. 19 in The Lancet Oncology.

The HPV test should become the screening tool of choice for women 35 and older, the researchers said. It could be done less frequently than the Pap test, which could be used only in women who have tested positive for HPV, they said.

The Pap smear, first introduced in the 1950s, looks for changes in the cervix that could lead to cervical cancer. The HPV test works a step further back in the process, looking to see if women are infected with HPV.

HPV causes cervical cancer, which remains a significant health problem, particularly in less resource-rich areas of the world.

DNA testing for HPV, though, does have drawbacks -- namely that it is less specific, meaning it is likely to pick up more false-positives, than a Pap smear. This results in many more callbacks for women to undergo further testing.

Using HPV as a primary screening tool results in a callback rate of about 25 to 30 percent, said Dr. Mark Einstein, a gynecologic oncologist and director of clinical research at Montefiore Medical Center in New York City. By contrast, Pap smears have a callback rate of about 5 to 7 percent, he said.

For their study, the Italian researchers compared HPV testing alone with HPV testing plus a Pap smear in 94,370 women aged 25 to 60 years old.

During the first phase of the study, women 35 to 60 who tested positive for HPV were given a cervical examination, called a colposcopy. Younger women got a colposcopy if their Pap smear was abnormal or if HPV results were positive several times, indicating that their body had not been able to clear the infection.

Screening for HPV DNA appeared more effective in older women, but the testing in younger women led to over-diagnosis of a particular type of cervical lesion, the study found.

Not all experts agree, though, that current practice would change based on the study's findings alone.

"I don't think this is going to change any strategies we do now, but I do think it's more evidence that HPV testing can predict who's going to develop cervical cancer," said Dr. Jay Brooks, chairman of hematology/oncology at Ochsner Health System in Baton Rouge, La. "HPV testing, in certain populations, can really predict who would benefit from treatment."

Einstein had a somewhat different take on the findings. "This shows that the strategy does work," he said. "It does make sense, it's cost-effective and effective. This is happening in single-payer health systems which have national screening. We're behind in the U.S."

The strategy makes particular sense in less-developed countries, where women could do an HPV test themselves with a "self swab" and then send the swab in for analysis, Einstein said.

In the United States, cervical cancer screening guidelines were changed in November. Women now are being told that they should get their first screening for cervical cancer -- including a Pap test -- at age 21. The previous recommendation was to start Pap tests three years after becoming sexually active or at age 21, whichever came first.

And, rather than have an annual Pap test, most women need to be screened every other year or less, depending on their age, according to the new guidelines.

Cervical cancer rates have dropped more than 50 percent in the last 30 years in the United States, according to the guidelines. That decline has been largely attributed to widespread use of the Pap test.

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Cervical Cancer and HPV: What you should know

Savannah, GA

January is National Cervical Cancer Awareness Month, and the American Cancer Society estimates that 11,270 new cases of cervical cancer will be diagnosed and about 4,070 women will die from it here in the United States.

The number of deaths caused by cervical cancer has declined significantly mostly because of the use of the Pap test (Pap smear). However, the disease still remains a serious threat especially in African American, Hispanic and Asian women as well as in women who are low income and have no insurance. Cervical cancer is easy to prevent and highly curable when detected and treated early.

What is cervical cancer? Cervical cancer is cancer that starts in the cervix, which is the lower part of the uterus or the womb. Usually the cancer grows slowly and many women do not know they have the disease because they do no have any symptoms.

The main cause of the disease is a virus called human papillomavirus (HPV), which is spread through sex and causes changes in the cervix. Almost 99% of all cervical cancers are caused by HPV. Most HPV infections do not have symptoms and most people do not even know they are infected. Majority of the time, HPV infections clear up on its’ own and do not cause cancer. However, if the infection does not go away, it can cause the normal cells in the cervix to become precancerous. Pre-cancer cells do not always turn into cancer and most will return to normal. If they are not found and treated, the precancer cells may turn into cancer.

The only way to fully prevent HPV infection is through abstaining from sexual activity. Another way to prevent infection is through the HPV vaccine, which was approved by the Food and Drug Administration in 2006. The vaccine protects against HPV types 16 and 18, the two types that cause 70% of cervical cancer. The vaccine is recommended for girls and women ages 11 to 26. The American Cancer Society recommends that women talk to their doctor about whether the vaccine is right for them.

All women are at risk for cervical cancer. There are certain risk factors that increase a woman’s chance of getting the disease. In addition to HPV infection, other risk factors include smoking, having HIV or any disease that affects the body’s immune system, Chlamydia infection, and long-term use of birth control. Having multiple sexual partners and having sex at an early age may also increase the chances of getting cervical cancer. Early detection is the key to preventing and treating cervical cancer. Cervical cancer screening using the Pap test is the most effective and reliable form of prevention. Getting regular Pap tests can save your life. The Pap test locates pre-cancer and abnormal cells that may become cancerous if not found early and left untreated. The HPV test can also be used to find change in the cells in the cervix.

Some simple guidelines for cervical cancer screening by the American Cancer Society are as follows: All women should begin getting annual Pap tests about 3 years after they become sexually active but no later than age 21; starting at age 30, women who have had normal Pap tests 3 years in a row should get screened every 2-3 years; women 70 years or older who have had normal Pap tests at least 3 years in a row and no abnormal tests in the last 10 years can stop being screened; however, you should talk to your doctor or other healthcare professional to determine how often you should have a Pap test.

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Cancer Centers of the Carolinas honors Cervical Cancer Month by building awareness

Greenville, SC

January is Cervical Cancer Month, a time set aside to raise awareness of cervical cancer. In the United States, approximately 11,270 women will be diagnosed with cervical cancer in 2010. However, invasive cervical cancer is highly preventable. That’s why Cancer Centers of the Carolinas (CCC) is making it their goal to stress the importance of regular Pap tests in preventing cervical cancer, the role of Human Papillomavirus (HPV) infections in the development of the disease and treatment options if abnormal cells are detected.

The National Cancer Institute (NCI) says that failure to get a Pap test, as well as failure of the test itself, are common for women who have been diagnosed with cervical cancer. In fact, 60 to 80 percent of the women who are newly diagnosed with cervical cancer in the United States report they have not had a Pap test in the past five years. According to the NCI, the key to preventing death from cervical cancer is regular screening to detect abnormalities in the cells of the cervix early, before they become cancerous.

CCC is committed to helping women in the Upstate and their families win the battle against cervical cancer. They do this by providing easy access to a full range of advanced cancer care services
in a community-based setting that allows patients to remain close to home and their support networks of family and friends. CCC strongly believes in this comprehensive community-based approach to the management of their patients’ cancer treatment and follow-up care.

CCC has oncologists who use the latest advances in technology and therapies to deliver complete and compassionate care. As experts in cancer, CCC is a leader in research and participates in many clinical trials that result in new therapies for patients battling cervical cancer.

Serving Upstate communities for more than three decades, Cancer Centers of the Carolinas (CCC) is a community-based, physician-owned practice with 28 board-certified oncologists practicing in multiple locations across the Upstate of South Carolina.

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