Treatment Options for Cervical Cancer

Cervical cancer patients have various treatment options available to them, both traditional and non-traditional.

Types of Surgical Procedures

1. Cone biopsy or conization is the removal of a conical shape tissue from the cervix and cervical canal for microscopic study in order to establish a potentially cancerous cervical condition.

2. The removal of the uterus and the cervix either through the vagina or the abdomen.

3. Bilateral salpingo-oophorectomy is the removal of both ovaries and fallopian tubes.

4. Radical hysterectomy is the removal of the uterus, cervix, and part of the vagina and which may also include the ovaries, fallopian tubes and adjacent lymphatic nodes.

5. Pelvic exenteration is the surgical removal of the lower colon, rectum, bladder, cervix, vagina, ovaries and adjacent lymph nodes. After such a surgical procedure, openings are made on the patient in order to facilitate the flow of urine and stool directly into a plastic or rubberized collection bag. Reconstructive surgery is also required to make an artificial vagina for the patient.

6. Cryosurgery procedure to freeze and destroy abnormal and cancerous tissues.

7. Laser surgical procedure to cut tissue and/or remove a tumor.

8. Loop electrosurgical excision procedure (LEEP) is the use of controlled electrical in the removal of cancerous tissue.

Radiation Therapy

Internal or external radiation therapy utilizes radioactive substances in killing cancerous cells.

Chemotherapy

A treatment procedure that uses drugs to arrest cancerous cell growths wherein drugs are administered either orally or by intravenous/intramuscular injection.

Other Treatment Choices

Aside from these conventional cancer treatment options for cervical cancer, patients also have the choice of undergoing non-traditional therapies such as acupuncture, herbal medicine or dietary supplements for the management of the symptoms and/or the cancer itself.

1. Acupuncture has been used by the Chinese for thousands of years for the management and control of pain. It involves putting thin needles into the skin at particular points on the body to increase the flow of energy on the body’s meridians. Present studies prove that acupuncture is effective in the treatment and management of pain and useful for stroke rehabilitation, migraines, chronic back pain and asthma.

Acupuncture is only performed by state licensed and certified acupuncturist who have undergone training and passed the licensure exams and requirements. It has almost zero side effects since the only risk arises from the use of non-sterile needles.

Very often, acupuncture is recommended by medical practitioners as a complementary treatment with traditional medications.

2. Herbal medicines and natural dietary supplements are vitamins and minerals which are herbs or plants extract in capsule, tablet, or liquid form generally used to augment the food we eat. Usual dietary supplements are vitamins and minerals and other necessary substances derived from natural sources. These supplements generally contribute to an individual’s health maintenance and well-being and have been used for thousands of years to treat various illnesses; some of these supplements are the foundation for some modern medications like aspirin.

Overall, medical experts agree that dietary supplements are safe but just like conventional medicines; they may cause side effects and allergic reactions.

If you are willing to undergo traditional and non-traditional treatments, it is best to always inform your doctor especially if you are already taking dietary supplements since it may interact with your conventional medications and aggravate your conditions.

Cervical Cancer and Its Complementary Treatments

What It Is

The cervix is an organ that is only present in women, and connects the uterus to the vagina. When cells in the cervix start to undergo abnormal changes, known as pre-cancerous changes, then this can represent the early stages of cervical cancer.

There are two types of cervical cancer: squamous cell carcinoma and adenocarcinoma. Of these, we know that the vast majority of cases are squamous cell carcinomas. Cervical cancer can be picked up early and prevented from occurring through regular screening, which is recommended for women of all ages.

Causes of Cervical Cancer

We should make it clear that, as with all cancers, cervical cancer is caused by factors such as a weak immune system, an acidic pH balance, oxygen deprivation and toxins in the body. However, it is also commonly caused by certain types of HPV (human papilloma virus). Some of these can cause genital warts and, as such, cervical cancer can arise as a result of a sexually transmitted infection.

Smoking is also known to lead to cervical cancer, and we know that a combination of an HPV and smoking, or an HPV and another sexually transmitted disease, can lead to a greater level of risk.

Cervical Cancer Symptoms

The most common symptom for cervical cancer, and the one that sends most women to the doctor in the first place, is abnormal vaginal bleeding. This could include bleeding outside of the regular period, bleeding after the menopause or any other type of bleeding.

Pain during sexual intercourse is also known to be a symptom, as is bleeding directly after intercourse. Pain related to sex is known as dyspareunia in the medical community.

Conventional Treatments

If the cancer is confined to the outside layer of the cervix, then we have the option of a number of surgery treatments that can be completed to remove the affected cells. The most common include laser surgery, which kills the cancerous cells using a laser beam; cryosurgery, which is the killing of cancerous cells through freezing; and a cone biopsy, which is when a piece of cervical tissue affected by the cancer is completely removed.

These procedures are fine if the cancer is in its early stages, but if the cancer is invasive and has managed to get inside the outer layer, then a hysterectomy is the most common form of surgery. This could either be a simple hysterectomy or a radical hysterectomy, which is more serious. However, both involve the removal of the uterus, making it impossible to become pregnant.

Chemotherapy and radiation are also commonly used if the cancer has spread, but we would warn you that these include a lot of unpleasant side effects, including hair loss, weakness and nausea.

Alternative and Complementary Treatments

Due to the nature of the side effects associated with conventional treatments, many people opt instead for alternative treatments, which have very few, if any, side effects and provide a far more natural way to cure different types of cancer.

We can recommend the Budwig Diet as one of the most effective alternative therapies in combating any type of cancer, including cervical cancer. This special diet, administered under the guidance of trained experts, has at its heart a very simple idea which has proved time and time again to be a powerful anti-cancer treatment.

The basic premise of this completely natural alternative treatment is that in order to grow, cancer cells require glucose. The Budwig Diet aims to reduce the amount of glucose in the blood through reducing the amount of sugar in the diet of the cancer patient, and is one of the most effective alternative treatments. However, some programmes go even further and recommend the complete absence of sugar from the diet. This leads to the body using less insulin, and the cancer cells therefore cannot grow.

The Budwig Diet should be specially administered, but at its heart it is a diet rich in raw vegetables, which prevents sugars from being consumed. The immune system also strengthens as a result, allowing the body to fight the weakened cancer cells more effectively.

As well as the Budwig Diet, we can also recommend a number of other alternative therapies which aim to combat cancerous cells in the body. These consist of emotional healing, which is the balancing of the meridian through the increasing of inner strength; biophotonic light therapy, which is the targeting of cancer cells using completely natural UV rays; massage therapy, which is the use of different types of massage to stimulate the circulation of energy; and techniques such as using SCIO Energetic Frequency Equipment, which aims to destroy the cancer cells through mechanical vibration.

Rob Griggs

The Mariposas Clinic is a wellness center and clinic specializing in alternative and complementary treatments for cervical cancer and other forms of cancer and serious illnesses. For more information on their treatments, please visit http://www.mariposasclinicspain.com

Oral Cancer Screening

Oral cancer is one of the cancers whose survival rates have not materially improved in recent years. This form of cancer kills a person in North America every hour of every day. Over 34,000 Americans are diagnosed with oral cancer every year. Oral cancer's 5-year survival rate is about 52 %, less than more commonly discussed cancers, like cervical cancer, breast cancer, Hodgkin's lymphoma, and testicular cancer. However, the survival rate for oral cancer can be increased to approximately 80 % if the cancer is detected early.

A Lesson from Cervical Cancer

Cervical cancer used to be one of the most deadly forms of cancer. In fact, its 5-year survival rate during the 1950s was roughly equivalent to what oral cancer is today. But the death rate for cervical cancer has declined by 74 % since 1955. Not only that, but the death rate continues to decline by almost 4 % per year. Why? The Pap test. With women receiving Pap tests as a routine part of an annual exam, cervical cancers are being detected very early these days, allowing them to be treated more successfully. The 5-year survival rate for the earliest stage of cervical cancer is 92 %. This means that if the cancer is detected early, nearly all women will survive.

A Different Story

Oral cancer's survival rate has remained fairly consistent, with no significant change since 1976. The main reason why this is so is the continued delayed diagnosis of oral cancer. Over two thirds of patients diagnosed with oral cancer are already expressing symptoms, and fifty percent of them evidence metastases and spread of the cancer to regional lymph nodes, which can drop the survival rate to 20 %.

Following the success of the Pap test, there were attempts to apply the same brush cytology technology to oral cancer screening. However, these attempts failed because the deep layers of oral lesions, those most likely to contain abnormal cells, are not sampled by the brush cytology, leading to false negative rates of 30-63%. As a result, brush cytology tests are not commonly used in screening for oral cancer. Instead, the most common technique used for oral cancer screening is visual inspection with the naked eye.

A New Innovation

Recently, though, a new breakthrough has made oral cancer screening quick and effective. The VELscope and other optical screening tools allow dentists to screen for oral cancer in 1-2 minutes with a much higher degree of accuracy than brush cytology.

Normal, healthy tissue fluoresces (emits light) when exposed to particular frequencies of light, in this case, a blue color light. The VELscope transmits this light, and the mucosal tissue responds by radiating light that, when viewed through the patented handpiece filters, appears a bright green. In contrast, abnormal tissue appears as a dark, irregular shape. This suspicious mass is further examined using a biopsy. According to clinical studies, the VELscope oral cancer screening system detects 98 % of tumors and pre-tumors.

With the ease of this new screening tool, there is no reason why a person undergoing a routine dental examination and/or cleaning should not have an oral cancer screening.

Patricia Woloch

To learn more about oral cancer screening in Portland, contact Laura Matin, DDS today to set up a consultation.

Cervical Cancer Statistics

It is normal to want to find out about the statistics of something, especially cancer, if you, a friend or a family member has been recently diagnosed. Well, the fact is, first of all, you, or that person, where not the only ones today to be diagnosed. In the United States alone, 11,150 women this year will be diagnosed with invasive cervical cancer. That is roughly 30 females a day, every day, for a year, in America alone.

In the United Kingdom, the statistics of diagnoses in 2003 where 24,105, which is double the American count in 2007. The following year, the number increased to 2,726, causing the UK to account for about 2% of all female cancers, and making Cervical Cancer specifically the twelfth most common cancer in women.

As far as death goes, in 2005, there were 1,061 deaths from Cervical Cancer in the UK. So out of the roughly 60 women who were diagnosed in one day, only 2 didn’t make it, which is not bad. From 1955 to 1992 the death rate has dropped slowly from 74%. Women are going more regularly for Pap Smear tests, which reduces their chances of dying from cervical cancer. The earlier the cancer is discovered, the higher the rate of getting rid of it. Currently the death rate of cervical cancer is on 4%.

The chances are higher that you will be diagnosed during your midlife. About half of woman will be diagnosed between the ages of 35 and 55. Because, as women get older they don’t realize that their risk of getting cervical cancer is still high, slightly over 20% of women over the age of 65 get diagnosed. In the UK, 91% of all cases of diagnosed Cervical Cancer are of women who are under the age of 45, the peak incidence being in the 25 to 29 age group.

The two factors that come into play when beating cancer are the stage of cancer they are at and the person’s age. If the cancer is diagnosed in what is known as the pre-cancerous stage, which is when the abnormal cells of cancer are discovered, but haven’t turned cancerous yet, almost every women will be treated and cured. Statistically, it is a 92%. From a medical viewpoint, this is called a “5 year survival rate”. This doesn’t mean that the women who were diagnosed lives for 5 years and then dies, but that the woman lives at least five years after their initial treatment.

Generally, if a person lives for 5 years without the cancer recurring, the chances of it coming back are very small. The overall statistic is that 7 out of 10 women will survive the 5 years. In low developing countries where Pap Smears are not regularly done; the survival rate can drop down to 40%

The one-year survival rate in the UK was just over 40% a decade ago. The five-year wasn’t that much higher. In comparison, for women diagnosed in 2000, the odds have been increased by 20% to 60%. In the last 7 years, their chances have just been improving further.

Every year the statistics are getting better and compared to other cancers, cervical is becoming less and less of a concern as the general awareness of it grows. It might seem just another thing to do every year along with the local visit to your GP and the dentist, but the Pap Smear doesn’t take that long. Especially it you consider you’ve the rest of your life as the reward for doing it.

Celeste Yates

Celeste writes for Tell Her, a website dedicated to Cervical Cancer for women in the UK.

HPV - The Human Papilloma Virus and Cervical Cancer

HPV is the abbreviation used for human papilloma virus. HPV causes the disease known as genital warts but it also causes cervical cancer. It is one of the most common sexually transmitted diseases in the world today.

There are many different types of HPV and not all types cause the wart like lesions to appear in the genital area. In fact most people who have this sexually transmitted disease do not have any outwards sign of its presence.

Statistics suggest that up to 50% of sexually active adults will acquire HPV in their lifetime. A robust immune system will most likely be able to take care of the initial HPV infection so you may never even know that you had it. If you were infected with the type of HPV that causes genital warts you may see the wart like lesions around the genital area, including on the shaft of the penis and the anal area. Women with genital warts may not see any lesions at all if they are confined to the vagina.

The strains of HPV that cause genital warts are classed as low risk viruses whereas the strains that cause cervical cancer are classed as a "high risk".

The link between cervical cancer and sexual activity was first suspected when the observation was made (1841) that nuns were never diagnosed with cervical cancer. At the same time it was noted that cervical cancer was more common in women who were prostitutes. A link between papilloma viruses and cancer was found in research on rabbits but it was not until the human papilloma virus was identified that the link to HPV and cervical cancer was made. This occurred in the late 1970's.

Both the Canadian and American Cancer Society lists other risk factor for cervical cancer as long term exposure to female hormones such as those found in birth control pills, smoking, HIV infection, exposure to certain hormones such as diethylstilbestrol (DES), and genetic factors.

Cervical Cancer

The cervix is the opening of the uterus. When infected with the high risk human papilloma virus strains these cells can become cancerous. Women over 30 are at more risk to develop cervical cancer suggesting that it takes some time for the cancerous changes to occur after the HPV infection. Not all women who are infected with the human papilloma virus will go on to develop cervical cancer.

In the United States cervical cancer is more prevalent among the Hispanic and Black populations who also have a higher mortality from the disease. In Canada higher rates of cervical cancer are seen among the older (ages 40-59), immigrant, aboriginal, and lower socio-economic populations. In both countries it is thought that rates are higher among these populations because of lack of screening, which results in detection at a much later stage of the disease.

The number of deaths from cervical cancer in the last 50 years has decreased dramatically because of the ability to diagnose the disease early with the Pap test. This test bears the name of its originator George Papanikolaou. It is a simple test that requires a sample of cells from the cervix. The tissue is sent to a laboratory for examination under a microscope. Cancerous changes can be detected very early this way and early diagnosis improves success rates for treatment.

Treatment

When diagnosed early enough cervical cancer can be treated by removing the cancerous cells. This may range from removal of cells confined to the cervix to a complete hysterectomy depending on how advanced the cancer is and whether or not it has spread to lymphatic tissue.

Prevention

You can lower your risk of developing cervical cancer by limiting the number of sexual contacts and knowing your partner's HPV status. If you are sexually active and not in a monogamous relationship you should use a barrier method of protection with every sexual encounter and undergo regular screening as part of your routine health examination. It is recommended that sexually active women should have a gynecological exam with a Pap smear every three years to age 69.

HPV vaccine

Vaccines have recently come on the market that provide protection from two strains of high risk HPV. Health officials are recommending all young women be vaccinated before they become sexually active. The vaccine is provided free of charge to girls in most provinces in Canada. Many states in the US are attempting to pass legislation requiring the vaccine but to date only 3 have been successful in getting legislation passed.

Beverly Hansen OMalley

Beverly Hansen OMalley is a health promotion specialist and likes to write about health related topics that help people in their daily lives. She is the the owner of http://www.registered-nurse-canada.com where she explores the uniqueness of the nursing profession in Canada including comparison of the nursing entrance tests for the US and Canada, comparison of registered nurse salaries across the country and what it means to have a nursing license