Smoking ups risk of cervical cancer

Smoking increases the risk of precancerous changes as well as cancer of the cervix.

Cervical cancer is one of the most common cancers that affect a woman's reproductive organs. Various strains of the human papillomavirus (HPV), a sexually transmitted infection, are responsible for the majority of cervical cancer cases.

Also the greater the number of sexual partners a woman has had -and in turn the greater the number of partners that the partners have had- the greater the chance of acquiring the human papillomavirus, the necessary cause of cervical cancer.

Aside from having multiple partners, Evangeline Mercader, a gyne-oncologist in Cebu said that having the first sexual intercourse before age 18 increases the risk of HPV. Immature cells seem to be more susceptible to the precancerous changes that HPV can cause.

Mercader said that if one has other sexually transmitted diseases, such as chlamydia, gonorrhea, syphilis or HIV/AIDS, a woman have a greater chance of having been exposed to the virus.

When exposed to HPV, the immune system response in most women prevents the virus from doing harm. In a small group of women, however, the virus survives for years before it eventually converts some cells on the surface of the cervix into cancer cells. Half of cervical cancer cases occur in women between the ages of 35 and 55.

Mercader said that according to statistics there are about 500,000 new cases of cervical cancer in the country. In the most recent data of the Eduardo J. Aboitiz Cancer Center, there are about 38 cases of cervical cancer in Cebu.

Mercader said that some of the signs and symptoms of cervical cancer is vaginal bleeding after intercourse, between periods or after menopause. Watery, bloody discharge from the vagina may be heavy and have a foul odor, pelvic pain or pain may also during sexual intercourse

To prevent cervical cancer, Mercader said that it is important that one should undergo screening. Since its introduction up until now, the bedrock for cervical cancer prevention and monitoring pre-cancerous lesions has been the pap smear test, which is commonly used in today's screening programs.

During a Pap test, a doctor brushes cells from the cervix, which is the narrow neck of the uterus, smears them onto a glass slide and sends the slide to a lab. A technician called a cytotechnologist examines the slide for abnormal cells. A doctor who specializes in cellular abnormalities (pathologist) further reviews slides that contain abnormal cells before making a final diagnosis.

The doctor also may use a laboratory test called the HPV DNA test to determine any infections with any of the 13 types of HPV that are most likely to lead to cervical cancer. Like the Pap test, the HPV DNA test involves collecting cells from the cervix for laboratory testing. It can detect high-risk strains of HPV in cell DNA before changes to the cells of the cervix can be seen.

The HPV DNA test is not a substitute for regular Pap screening, and it's not used to screen women younger than 30 with normal Pap results. Most HPV infections in women of this age group clear up on their own and aren't associated with cervical cancer.

Aside from tests, a vaccine is now also introduced in the market-a vaccine targeting HPV 16 and HPV 18 has the potential to prevent 70 percent of cervical cancers.

GlaxoSmithKline's cervical cancer vaccine prevention, showed 100 percent efficacy over 4.5 years against pre-cancerous lesions associated with human papillomavirus types 16 and 18, the two most common cancer-causing HPV types, a new follow-up study shows.

HPV 16 and 18 are responsible for more than 70% of cervical cancers globally.

GSK's candidate vaccine for cervical cancer is formulated with the proprietary innovative adjuvant system AS04, selected to ensure this vaccine confers strong and sustained antibody levels in women. - Jasmin R. Uy