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Cervical cancer is a disease in which the cells of the cervix become abnormal and start to grow uncontrollably, forming tumors.In the United States, cervical cancer is the fifth most common cancer among women aged 35-54, and the third most common ...
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Cervical cancer is cancer that starts in the cervix, the lower part of the uterus(womb) that opens at the top of the vagina. .Worldwide, cervical cancer is the third most common type of cancer in women. It is much les...
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Screening tests check for signs of cancer in people who don't have any symptoms. Screening for cervical cancer has been very successful. That's why experts recommend mass screening for cervical cancer.
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Expert-reviewed information summary about the treatment of cervical cancer.The cervix is the lower, narrow end of the uterus (the hollow, pear-shaped organ where a fetus grows). The cervix leads from the uterus to the vagina (birth canal).
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Detailed information on cervical cancer, including precancerous conditions of the cervix, risk factors, prevention, symptoms, diagnosis, and treatment
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Cervical cancer is a disease in which the cells of the cervix become abnormal and start to grow uncontrollably, forming tumors.In the United States, cervical cancer is the fifth most common cancer among women aged 35–54, and the third most c...
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Pap tests can discover changes in the cervix before they become cancerous. The chance of being cured is higher when doctors find the cancer in its early stages before it has spread.
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By: Debra Sickles My name is Debra and I was diagnosed with cervical cancer. I underwent a radical hysterectomy at the age of 37. My purpose for writing this story is to reach out to all women around the globe so that they will have a better understanding of meeting with their OBGYN on a yearly basis, as I do not feel there is enough emphasis placed on this disease.
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Invasive cervical cancer affects nearly 12,800 women in the United States annually, and in approximately 5,000 of these women the disease will be fatal. The incidence of cervical cancer is bimodal, with two peaks occurring between thirty-five year...
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Expert-reviewed information summary about tests used to detect or screen for cervical cancer.
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Your doctor may recommend a specific treatment. Or, he or she may offer you a choice of which one you'd like to follow. But in most cases, surgery or radiation will be needed. Discuss with your doctor and other healthcare professionals any questions and concerns you have about your treatment options. Ask how successful the treatment is expected to be, and what its risks and side effects may be. Take the time you need to make the best decision for you.
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Women with precancerous lesions in their cervix usually have no symptoms. A woman usually does not have any symptoms until the cells turn into cancer and invade the deepest parts of the cervix or other pelvic organs. That is why it is important that you have a regular Pap test. This test checks for cells that are cancer or precancer.
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Cervical cancer is one of the most preventable types of cancer because you can control the risk factors. A screening test is available, as is a vaccine for girls and young women.
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Some people use numbers called statistics to figure out their chances of getting cancer. Or they use them to try to figure out their chance of being cured. Statistics show what happens with large groups of people. But statistics can't be used to know or predict what will happen to a particular person. That's because no two people are alike.
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One important way to reduce your risk is by getting regular Pap tests. Another is doing what you can to prevent high-risk HPV.
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Here are some answers to frequently asked questions about cervical cancer. Q: What is cancer of the cervix?
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Expert-reviewed information summary about factors that may increase the risk of developing cervical cancer and about approaches that may help in the prevention of this disease.
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Chemotherapy is the use of drugs to kill cancer cells. You may take these drugs by mouth, as an injection into your body, or both ways.
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If you have radiation therapy, you'll see a doctor called a radiation oncologist. This doctor sets the treatment plan. The plan details the kind of radiation therapy you'll have and how long the treatment will last.
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Many women don't have symptoms of cervical cancer. Sometimes your doctor may first see signs of cancer during a pelvic exam or a Pap test.
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When a woman has surgery for cervical cancer, the doctor will try to remove the tumor and not leave any cancer cells behind. The surgeon is the most appropriate doctor to determine whether a tumor can be safely removed. Surgical treatment of cervical cancer depends on many things. Precancerous changes are treated differently than invasive cancer. Precancerous changes are also called dysplasia or carcinoma in situ. These types of changes are only in the surface layers of the cervix. They have not invaded deeper tissues. Invasive cancer has reached beyond the surface of the cervix.
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The side effects of cervical cancer therapy are different for everyone. They depend on these things.
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Studies of the cervical cancer vaccine found that it was most effective when given before the start of sexual activity, but the benefits and risks of the vaccine over time are still not fully known.
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A Harvard Medical School physician answers your question about the development of vaccines that could potentially prevent cervical cancer.
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A vaccine aims to prevent cervical cancer by fighting the strains of human papillomavirus that cause it. The CDC recommends the vaccine be given before puberty, because it is more effective if received before exposure to HPV.
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More than 3,700 American women died from cervical cancer in 2005, but death rates from this cancer are dropping. This is because more women are being screened for it. To learn more about cervical cancer and prevention, take this quiz, based on information from the National Cancer Institute (NCI) and the American Cancer Society (ACS).
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Can a woman's cervical cancer cause cancer in her husband?
Harvey B. Simon, M.D. is an Associate Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School and a member of the Health Sciences Technology Faculty at Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He is the founding editor of Harvard Men's Health Watch (www.health.harvard.edu) and the author of six consumer health books, including The Harvard Medical School Guide to Men's Health (Simon and Schuster, 2002) and The No Sweat Exercise Plan. Lose Weight, Get Healthy and Live Longer (McGraw-Hill, 2006). Dr. Simon practices at the Massachusetts General Hospital; he received the London Prize for Excellence in Teaching from Harvard and MIT.
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This assessment is valid for women between the ages of 21 and 69 who have had sexual intercourse at least once and who have not had a hysterectomy with removal of the cervix.
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Endometrial adenocarcinoma, or uterine cancer, is the most common genital cancer in women over forty-five years of age in the United States. Approximately 36,000 new cases are diagnosed each year, and 6,300 women ultimately die of the disease.
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Expert-reviewed information summary about the treatment of uterine sarcomas.Sarcoma of the uterus, a very rare kind of cancer in women, is a disease in which cancer (malignant) cells start growing in the muscles or other supporting tissues of the uterus. The uterus is the hollow, pear-shaped organ where a baby grows. Sarcoma of the uterus is different from cancer of the endometrium, a disease in which cancer cells start growing in the lining of the uterus (refer to the PDQ summary on Endometrial Cancer Treatment for information).
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Detailed information on uterine cancer, including symptoms, risk factors, staging, diagnosis, and treatment
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Treatment for uterine cancer is either local or systemic. Local treatments remove, destroy, or control the cancer cells in one area. Surgery and radiation therapy are local treatments. Systemic treatments are used to destroy or control cancer cells throughout the entire body. Chemotherapy and hormonal therapy are systemic treatments. A patient may have just one treatment or a combination of different treatments.
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Before your diagnosis, your doctor took a biopsy from your uterus to help find out if you had uterine cancer. It's likely that your doctor has suggested that you have your uterus removed. If so, samples taken from your uterus after it is removed help your doctor decide whether you need more treatment.
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If you're having symptoms that might be caused by cancer in the uterus, your doctor will want to check further. Your doctor is likely to ask you questions about these things.
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A pathologist is a doctor who specializes in studying cells. A pathologist assesses the sample from your biopsy. He or she assigns a grade to the sample. The grade includes a description of the type of cells in the sample and how much of each type of cells is present. This helps your doctor decide how likely it is that the cancer will spread or return. Doctors use 3 grades to describe most uterine cancers. The definitions of the grade are the same whether you have endometrial cancer or uterine sarcoma. The higher the grade, the more likely it is that the cancer may spread.
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Treatment for uterine cancer is either local or systemic. Local treatments remove, destroy, or control cancer cells in one area. Surgery and radiation are local treatments.
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Whether you have endometrial cancer or uterine sarcoma, what happens during external radiation is basically the same. Where you get the radiation and its dose depend on the type of tumor. You can get external radiation as an outpatient at a hospital or a clinic. This type of radiation may come from a machine called a linear accelerator.
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Here are some answers to frequently asked questions about uterine cancer. Q: What is the uterus?
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You usually have chemotherapy as an outpatient. That means you have it at a hospital, at the doctor's office, or at home. However, depending on the drugs taking and your general health, you may need to stay in the hospital during treatment. You usually get drugs for uterine cancer by an injection.
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Some women get noncancerous tumors in the endometrial muscle. These are called fibroid tumors or leiomyomas. They cause symptoms that include unusual vaginal bleeding and the urge to urinate often. These tumors are not cancer and are very common. They usually don't need treatment.
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It's likely that you will have physical concerns. After all, the cancer may cause symptoms and your treatment may cause side effects. What you notice depends on your treatment, and that depends on how much the cancer has spread from your uterus. It's not likely that you will have all the side effects listed. They are listed alphabetically, so you can find help easily when you need it. Look for the side effect you are having to learn how to cope.
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Uterine cancer can be divided into two primary forms, cervical and endometrial. Cancer of the cervix most often affects the neck of the cervix or the opening or the opening into the uterus from the vagina.
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