Know all about cervical cancer; it’s causes, symptoms and treatment

Cervical cancer is the fourth most common cancer in women. This disease is caused by abnormal growth of cells in a female’s cervix or the entrance to the uterus from the vagina. As per reports, approximately 604,000 women were diagnosed with cervical cancer across the globe in 2020, while, nearly 342,000 died of the life-threatening disease.

On Friday, Indian model and actor Poonam Pandey died of cervical cancer after she bravely fought with the deadly disease. As the disease is quite common, let’s know all about cervical cancer, how it is caused, what the symptoms are and what its treatment are.

Causes of Cervical cancer

Cervical cancer is caused 99 percent due to Human Papillomavirus or HPV. It is a common sexually transmitted infection which affects the throat, genitals and the skin. As per reports by World Health Organization, almost all sexually active people will be infected with HPV at some point in their lives, that to usually without any symptoms.

Reportedly, in most of the cases, the virus is cleared from the body by the immune system. However, if the virus persist in the body, there are high chances of growth of abnormal cells in the cervix, which later turn into cancer. As per medical reports, abnormal cells takes nearly 15 to 20 years to become cancer.

Symptoms

According to World Health Organization (WHO), the common symptoms for cervical cancer are as follows:

• Unusual bleeding between periods, after menopause, or after sexual intercourse
• Increased or foul-smelling vaginal discharge
• Symptoms like persistent pain in the back, legs, or pelvis
• Weight loss, fatigue and loss of appetite
• Vaginal discomfort
• Swelling in the legs

Treatment

In order to diagnose if there is cancer in cervix, a test is performed by medical professions. In order to cure the diseases, treatments including surgery, radiotherapy and chemotherapy as well as secondary care for pain management are done.

Meanwhile, in her speech while presenting the Interim Budget for 2024, Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman revealed that the central government aims to encourage vaccination for girls aged between 9 to 14 years for cervical cancer prevention.