San José, Costa Rica. May, 2015.

Cervical cancer is commonly diagnosed in middle-aged women, half of them are between the ages of 35 to 55 years-old, but approximately 20% of the cases occur in women over 65 years-old, showing the need for continuous revision procedures.

According to Dr. Leonel Abud Sánchez, gynecologist-obstetric of Clinica Biblica Hospital, “although there are no studies that offer precise information on the incidence of cervical cancer, it is known that there has been an accelerated increase due to the simple fact that in the world population there is an elevated percentage of people who carry the Human Papilloma Virus, main cause of this disease.”

Every person who is sexually active is exposed to contracting the virus of human papilloma, both men as well as women. The difference is that man is a bearer and the woman develops cervical cancer.

A proven way to prevent cervical cancer consists in performing detection tests in order to find pre-cancer states before they become invasive. The Papanicolaou test (Pap smear) and the HPV test are the most used for this.

“The earlier sexual relations initiate, the more the probability of acquiring the virus increases. However, having casual sexual relations without protection or multiple sexual partners, may put you at high risk of infection by HPV and later development of cervical cancer,” commented the gynecologist.

The main risk factors for developing cervical cancer are:

•    HPV infection
•    Smoking
•    Immunosuppression
•    Infection through Chlamydia
•    Bad eating habits
•    Use of birth control pills
•    Beginning sexual relations at an early age
•    Family background with cervical cancer

Treatment

When there is an altered result in the papanicolaou text, one resorts to performing additional studies in order to detect with certainty the presence of cancer or a pre-cancerous injury.

One proceeds to perform a study that allows one to visualize the cervix with a device called a colposcope. The physician, applying a solution of ascetic acid and afterwards a Lugol´s iodine solution, will be able to determine if there are lesions to the cervix, in order to later withdraw a small fragment of that lesion, which will be analyzed in a pathology laboratory.

Sometimes, it is necessary to perform an endocervical curettage, in order to discard cancerous or pre-cancerous lesions in the endocervical canal, which at the moment of performing the colposcopy cannot be determined due to its anatomical position.

“It is important to highlight that the patient with HPV should be under strict gynecological control for papanicolaou every 6 months, depending on the risk in which the patient finds herself and her type of HPV. She should also complete a vaccination scheme with Gardasil or with Cervarix and repeat the HPV test every 5 years”, concluded Dr. Abud.

For further information or for requesting medical attention, please call the number 2522-1000, or write to the email citas@clinicabiblica.com or contact us via chat at the website: www.clinicabiblica.com.