The word cervical often confuses people with the term cervical
cancer. Its not anything related to the cervical area of your back,
that is mid back. Cervical cancer is something related to the ailment
of cervix of a woman.
Cervix is the
portion where the vagina and the uterus meet. The cervix near the
uterus is called the endocervix and the portion near the vagina is
called the ectocervix. The cancer occurs near this area where the
uterus and the vagina meet. The growth of the cervical cancer is not
sudden development, it slowly develops and the symptoms too are shown
gradually.
The pre-cancer
changes in the cervix are called by different names like-cervical
intraepithelial neoplasia(CIN), dysplasia, and squamous
intraepithelial lesion(SIL).
Basically the
cancer is divided into two parts- adenocarcinoma and squamous cell
carcinoma. The most common form of cancer is the squamous cell
carcinomas which occurs in almost 80% of the women. The cells of the
cancer that develop resemble the thin and flat cells called squamous
cells covering edocervix surface. The Squamous cell carcinoma cancer
begins at the juxtaposition of ectocervix and endocervix.
Adenocarcinomas has been becoming very common cancer in women
recently and the percentage has increases in the last decade.
Cervical adenocarcinoma cancer develops in the site of mucus
producing glands present near the endocervix. Though the cancers are
different in their outlook yet in some cases the characteristics of
both of them have been seen. The cancer having the features of
adenocarcinomas and squamous cell carcinoma is called mixed
carcinomas or adenosquamous carcinomas.
Usually the onset
of the cancer is without any symptoms. It takes more than 3-4 years
to develop and then the symptoms too start showing. Before the cancer
starts the pre-cancerous changes do take place. But it has been seen
that most of the changes go away without any treatment. Cancer has
always been the mysterious ailment and its also with the cervical
cancer too.
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