Cervical cancer
Cancer is a disease in which certain body cells don't function right, divide very fast, and produce too much tissue that forms a tumor. Cervical cancer is cancer in the cervix, the lower, narrow part of the uterus (womb). The uterus is the hollow, pear-shaped organ where a baby grows during a woman's pregnancy. The cervix forms a canal that opens into the vagina (birth canal), which leads to the outside of the body.
Cervical cancer is a disease that can be very serious, but it is a disease that you can help
prevent. Cervical cancer occurs when normal cells in the cervix change into cancer cells. This
normally takes several years to happen, but it can also happen in a very short period of time. The
good news is that there are ways to help prevent cervical cancer. By getting regular Pap tests and
pelvic exams, your health care provider can find and treat the changing cells before they turn into
cancer.
When cancer spreads from its original place to another part of the body, the new tumor has the
same kind of abnormal cells and the same name as the primary tumor. For example, if cervical cancer
spreads to the lungs, the cancer cells in the lungs are actually cervical cancer cells. The disease
is metastatic cervical cancer, not lung cancer. For that reason, it is treated as cervical cancer,
not lung cancer. Doctors call the new tumor "distant" or metastatic disease.
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Therapies, treatments and care
Options and considerations after diagnosis of cancer of the cervix. -
Symptoms and signs
Detection and help from your doctor. -
Risk factors
Know the risk factors involved in cancer of the cervix and how to dectect.
