The Roanoker - March/April 2019 - 50

"It is truly
heartbreaking every
time myself or one of
my partners sees a
woman with advanced
cervical cancer; cure
rates are low and
it's almost always
preventable. In my
first year practicing
medicine in Roanoke,
I saw more women
with advanced cervical
cancer than in the
preceding 11 years in
practice in Wisconsin."
DR. JANET OSBORNE

THE AMERICAN CANCER
SOCIETY'S estimates for cervical
cancer in the US for 2019 are:
*
About 13,170 new cases of
invasive cervical cancer will
be diagnosed.
*
About 4,250 women will
die from cervical cancer.
*
1,762,450 new cancer cases
(all cancer) will arise in
2019 (approximately 4,830
new cases per day)
*
606,880 will result in death
*
1,660 new deaths per day
OTHER FACTS:
*
Cervical cancer was once
one of the most common
causes of cancer death
for American women that rate dropped due

*
*
*
*

to increased screening
measures.
Ages most at risk for
women are 35-44
Rarely develops in women
under 20
Risk is still present as
women age
More than 15 percent of
cases are found in women
over 65
In the US, Hispanic women
are most likely to get
cervical cancer, followed by
African Americans, Asians
and Pacific Islanders and
whites.
American Indians and
Alaskan natives have the
lowest risk in the country.

uncommon for women to stop getting Pap smears
after their last child is born," says Osborne. She
is optimistic about the 2019 Medicaid expansion
in Virginia. Many people don't get preventative
screenings due to lack of insu rance or being
under-insured.
"When a patient presents with advanced cervical
cancer symptoms [weight loss, fatigue, back pain, leg
pain or swelling, leakage of urine from the vagina and
bone pain that does not go away], many can no longer
be cured with surgery, such as a hysterectomy, and
now require chemotherapy and radiation," Osborne
says.
"This is why cervical cancer awareness is lifesaving. In such late-stage disease, chemotherapy
and radiation may extend life, but there may be
significant side effects of treatment and curing the
cancer is difficult. Most people could have avoided
the entire ordeal."

Vaccines and Screening

"Cancer is a scary word and there is a lot of fear with
that. Pap smears aren't perfect, but the screenings
do work. Milne's testing and treatment was the right
way," Osborne says.
Milne didn't have the opportunity to receive an
HPV vaccine. When Milne was the best age to receive
the vaccine, it was between 1983 and 1984. Long
before the first FDA-approved vaccine, Gardisil was
marketed in 2006 to cover four strains of the HPV

TYPES OF CERVICAL CANCER
*
Squamous cell carcinomas:
9 out of 10 cervical cancers
develop from the cells in
the exocervix
*
Adenocarcinomas: most
other cervical cancers
develop from the gland
cells
*
Adenosquamous
carcinomas or mixed
carcinomas: least common,
have features of both
SCREENINGS
*
Getting screened at age
21 to look for changes in
cervical cells
*
If you are 21-29 you should
get a Pap test every 3
years

If you are 30-64 you
should get both a Pap test
and HPV test together
every 5 years

FACTORS THAT MAY INCREASE the
risk of developing cancer following a
high-risk HPV infection:
*
Smoking
*
Having HIV or reduced
immunity
*
Taking birth control pills for
extended periods of time
(5+ years)
*
Having given birth to three
or more children

-KATIE WISMER

Source: https://www.cancer.org/cancer/cervical-cancer/about/key-statistics.html

MARCH/APRIL 2019

TheRoanoker.com

https://www.cancer.org/cancer/cervical-cancer/about/key-statistics.html http://www.TheRoanoker.com

The Roanoker - March/April 2019

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