Diagnostics Cervical Cancer
The Pap can detect accurately and inexpensively as much as 90 percent of cervical cancers, even before symptoms appear. Consequently, the number of deaths from this disease has been reduced by over 50 percent. It is recommended that women get their first Pap smear when they start to be sexually active or after age 18 and repeat it on once a year. If results are normal for 3 consecutive years, then the test can be spaced and do it every 2 or 3 years if you do not change the habit of life. If all women had the Pap regularly, could be eliminated deaths from this cancer. However, nearly 40 percent of women in developed countries are tested regularly.
If you find a lump, ulcer or other suspicious training on the cervix during a pelvic examination, or if Pap results indicate an anomaly or cancer, must perform a biopsy (removing a tissue sample for examination under a microscope .) The tissue sample is taken during a colposcopy, which uses a viewing tube with a magnifying lens (colposcope) to examine the neck of the uterus carefully and choose the place of the biopsy. There are two types of biopsies: the punch biopsy, which removes a tiny portion of the cervix that is selected visually with the colposcope, and endocervical curettage, in which tissue is scraped from the cervical canal visually inaccessible. Both procedures are a bit painful and cause a little bleeding, but together usually provide enough tissue for the pathologist to establish a diagnosis. If it is not clear, it makes a cone, which removes a major portion of tissue. Usually, this biopsy is done by loop electrosurgical excision in one’s own doctor’s office.
Once the diagnosis is established, it must decide the size and exact location of the cancer (ie, staging is done.) The process begins with a physical examination of the pelvis and various tests (cystoscopy, chest radiography, IVP, sigmoidoscopy) to determine if cervical cancer has spread to other surrounding structures or distant parts of the body. It also can perform other tests such as CT scan, a barium enema and X-rays of bones and liver, depending on the characteristics of each case.