Tips to maintain good cervical health
Posted on: 14/Mar/2023 12:06:44 PM
Dr. Sunil Eshwar, Lead Consultant - Laparoscopic Surgeon, Aster RV Hospital
Cervical cancer is the 2nd most leading prevalent cancer in India. There are an estimated 123,000 new cases of cervical cancer in India every year with 67,000 deaths in women in India alone. Hence cervical health awareness is at most important. January of every year is marked as the month of cervical cancer awareness month.
Recent studies shows that screening of cervical cancer reduces the disease incidence and disease mortality by 50% .Cervical Cancers can be prevented at the earliest by detecting the presence of HPV .Regular population based Screening is done using Pap smear cytology and it is accepted as the international screening Programmed .PAP smear screening helps in detecting the precancerous stages such as Low grade intraepithelial neoplasia, High grade Squamous intraepithelial neoplasia prevents from Cervical Cancer.
Cervical cancer usually takes many years to develop into an invasive disease and the mortality rate is low when it is detected in early stages. With the discovery of HPV infections and prophylactic vaccinations it is now possible to prevent cervical cancer in much earlier stages.
Simple ways to maintain cervical health :
Regular testing –ACOG recommends all women at the least age of 21 should start with cervical cancer screening (even if they aren`t sexually active), if age is less than 30yrs then likely to be tested for cervical cancer every alternative year, if aged more than 30yrs with 3 normal consecutive pap smear reports then testing every 3 yrs. is recommended, If age is above 65yrs no further pap smear testing is required when there is more than 3 consecutive normal pap smear or 2 and more consecutive negative HPV tests and PAP tests in last 10yrs with the most recent pap occurring within the last 5yrs, or women who have had hysterectomies for benign disease.
Types of cervical screening includes :
- Conventional Pap—In a conventional Pap smear, samples are smeared directly onto a microscope slide after collection.
- Liquid based cytology—The sample of (epithelial) cells is taken from the Transitional Zone, the squamo-columnar junction of the cervix, between the ecto and endocervix.
- Liquid-based cytology uses an arrow-shaped brush, rather than the conventional spatula. The cells taken are suspended in a bottle of preservative for transport to the laboratory, where using Pap stains it is analysed
