An overview of cervical cancer

Cervical cancer is the most common cancer which effects 25-55yrs of women. Human papillomavirus is the necessary cause of cervical cancer, in particular the human papillomavirus-16/18 strains, which have been detected in ~70% of all cervical cancer cases worldwide. Epidemiological studies supported by molecular technology have provided sufficient evidence on the causal role of some Human Papillomavirus (HPV) infections in the development of cervical cancer. HPV has been proposed as the first-ever identified, necessary cause of a human cancer. A complication of untreated or late diagnoised cancer is fatal or leads to death. The treatment of cervical cancer in almost all cases will result in a loss of future fertility, as well as other significant treatment sequelae leading to a decreased quality of life. Almost all (99.7%) cervical cancer cases are result of persistent infection with high-risk type HPV. Stage IA1 - 0.6% Stage IA2 - 7% Stage IB1 - 8% Stage IIA - 12% Stage IIB - 29% Stage IIIA - 17% Stage IIIB - 27% Stage IVA- 47%. Cervical cancer is most common gynaecological malignancy during pregnancy. Two vaccines approved by FDA (Gardasil and Cervarix) are highly effective in preventing infection with HPV.