Cervical Cancer
What is cervical cancer?
Cervical cancer is a malignant tumor develops in uterovaginal portion or cervical canals. Its high incident age is around 50. Besides, it inclines to occur in the females who are married and give birth to babies early, or are proliferous or infected by HPV. In recent years, the incident age of cervical cancer is tending to young females.
What are the incidence and death rate of cervical cancer?
The incidence of cervical cancer rages second of all female cancers. Each year, there are about 53,000 new developed cases globally, 85% of those cases are from developing countries.
About 76,000 people dies of cancer every year all over the world, which takes up 13% of global deaths. Among them, the death number of cervical patients is closed to 27,000 and 88% of them are in developing countries.
What causes cervical cancer?
70% cervical cancer cases arouse from human immunodeficiency virus(HIV). Besides that, smoking and human immunodeficiency virus(HIV) can cause cervical cancer. Other risk factors are also mutually related to each other to lead to cervical cancer.
Other risk factors of cervical cancer include choamydiae infection, improper eating habits, or frequent contact or taking of harmonic medicines, family history of cervical cancer, or taking oral contraceptives often, having sex and bearing baby in an early age, prolificacy and so on. All those risk factors would possibly cause cervical cancer.
What are the symptoms of cervical cancer?
1. Irregular menses or bleeding in vagina after menopause.
2. Vaginal discharge increases and presents white or sanguinloent with fish stench.
3. Symptoms like frequent and urgent micturition, constipation and so on occur.
4. Terrible pain appears in different parts of body.
5. Emaciation, anemia, fever and general exhaustion and other symptoms present.
Screening methods of cervical cancer
1. Have gynecologic examination regularly can detect cervical cancer early.
2. Cervicitis may probably change to cervical cancer that positive treatments should be performed once cervicitis is found.
3. To know the early symptoms of cervical cancer so that once any similar symptoms occur, the patient can go to hospital right way.
Diagnostic methods of cervical cancer
1. Cervical scraping smear examination. It has to perform in gynecologic examination or cancer detection for married women.
2. Iodine test is to observe cervix by vaginoscopy. Wipe out the mucilage on the surface of cervix, apply 2% iodi liquor directly on cervix and vaginal mucosa. The area cannot be stained means positive. Biopsy samples should take from the areas presenting abnormal negative to iodine.
3. Biopsy. When cervical biopsy indicates negative, samples for biopsy should be taken from the point 6,9,12 and 3 of squamous cell juncture of cervix, or use small curet to scrap cervical canals and send the scrapping material for biopsy.
4. Vaginoscopy. It cannot diagnose cancer directly, but has to coordinate with biopsy.
5. Conization of uterine cervix is applicable when biopsy cannot confirm if cancer infiltration occurs.
Clinical stages of cervical cancer
Stage 0: the cancer cells are still limited in cervical intraepithelial regions. The cervical cancer in stage 0 is also what we call primary cancer.
Stage I: the cancer cells localize in cervix and encroachment occurs.
Stage Ⅱ: the cancer cells have encroached to vagina but do not cover 1/3 of vagina, or have encroached to paracervical connective tissues but do not reach pelvic wall.
Stage Ⅲ: the encroachment has reach the lower 1/3 of vagina or the cancer cells have encroached to cavum pelvis and bilateral hydronephrosis occur.
Stage Ⅳ: cancer cells have spread out from generative organs or surpass cavum pelvis to encroach to rectum, gall bladder or other distant organs.
What are the traditional treatments for cervical cancer?
1. Metrectomy is the most common treatment for cervical cancer, which includes:
1) Total hysterectomy, it will remove cervix and uterus.
2) Radical hysterectomy, it is to remove cervix, uterus, upper vagina, ovaries, oviducts and affected lymph nodes.
2. Radiotherapy includes external radiation exposure and intra-cavitary irradiation. Cervical cancers from different stages can have radiotherapy. But it would hurt the ovarian functions of those females before menopause.
3. Chemotherapy for cervical cancer is using chemicals in treatment, which is applicable to the patients from late stage or are suffering from recurrent cervical cancers. But the toxic side effect is heavier that some weak cervical cancer patients normally cannot stand that.
Post operative care of cervical cancer
1. Mental care. Cervical cancer patients may easily develop the emotions like fear, anxiety, upset and so on. The family should care and support the patient at moments.
2. Hygiene care. Wash the cunnus and urinary meatus twice a day to keep cunnus clean and apply antibiotics to prevent wound infection.
3. Exercise care. Have exercises like abdominal breathing and drawing up the anus, that can enhance the contractility of urethra muscle and sphincter urethrae and help the injured nerves of gall bladder recover.
4. Diet care. Have the foods that are rich in vitamin, proteins and easy for digestion to enhance the resistance of cervical cancer patients.
The best treatment for cervical cancer
A multidisciplinary team composed of surgeons, pathologists, radiation cancer experts, minimally invasive oncologists, nurses for cancer nursing and interpreters carries out expert consultation according to symptoms and conditions of patients with cervical cancer and then gives treatment plans that are most applicable to the patient, in order to greatly improve the therapeutic effect of cervical cancer patient.
Characterized therapy of Chinese medicine in treating cervical cancer
Traditional Chinese medicine can regulate the balance of body and strengthen the resistance to fight against tumor. Modern Cancer Hospital Guangzhou combines Chinese medicine and other cancer treatments together, while at the same time integrates the advantages of both Chinese medicine and western medicine, which can effectively improve the cure effect of cancer treatments.
What kinds of supports can be obtained?
Practice proves that the clinic team services composed by multiple disciplines like oncosurgery, oncology, pathology, imageology and anesthesia doctors as well as professional nurses, can provide patients with most effective, most suitable and most economic treatment plan, and also can greatly improve the therapeutic effect of treating cancer patients.
“One station” medical system constructed by Modern Cancer Hospital Guangzhou combining multiple disciplines, can perform comprehensive diagnosis and treatment for patients under the condition of without adding patients’ burden. Therefore, on one hand, it can provide all-round and heartfelt medical services, and on the other hand, it improves medical efficiency and level. There are many channels can be applied to conduct the communication between patients and doctors, like online consultation, email, telephone conversation, and face-to-face consultation. All these consultation services can effectively help patients to fight the cancer. While the medical team faced by the patients includes doctors, nurses, dietitians, interpreters and so on to meet various demands in different level of different countries. Patients would be more confident under the unobstructed communication environment to cooperate the hospital to diagnose and treat the diseases.