Every year about 500,000 women worldwide are diagnosed with cervical cancer, and more than 270,000 die from it.
The cervix is a female reproductive part. It connects the uterus to the vagina. The cervix comprises two parts and is covered with two different cells.
The endocervix is the cervix opening that opens into your uterus and is covered with glandular cells.
The exocervix is the outer part of a cervix that your doctor can see during examination using a speculum and is covered with squamous cells.
The transformation zone of the cervix is located where these two types of cells, that is, glandular cells and squamous cells, meet. The transformation zone changes with your age and with pregnancy. Most cervical cancers start in the cells of the transformation zone.
The cells in your transformation zone do not suddenly change into cancer cells. The first changes into abnormal cells, which are called precancerous cells.
The terms like cervical intraepithelial neoplasia, squamous intraepithelial neoplasia, or dysplasia indicate abnormal changes in cervical cells.
Even if you have precancerous cells, you may not develop cancer. Mostly precancerous cells go away on their own and do not require treatment, but in some women, precancerous cells develop into invasive cancers.
Cervical cancers are graded on a scale of 1 to 3, with grade 1 as mild dysplasia or low grade, Grade 2 and 3 with moderate or severe dysplasia.
Types of cervical cancer cervical cancer
Based on the type of cells where the lesion has occurred, cervical cancer is mainly of two types: squamous cell carcinoma or adenocarcinoma.
Most cancers are squamous cell carcinomas and develop in the exocervix part of your cervix. The second most common cervical cancers are adenocarcinomas which develop from mucus-producing glands in the endocervix.
Rarely can you have mixed types of carcinoma. The other types of carcinoma of cervical cancer are melanoma, sarcoma, and lymphoma.
Stages of cervical cancer
Staging cervical cancer is essential as it helps your doctor decide your treatment and prognosis of your disease.
There are four major stages of cervical cancer.
Stage 0: In this stage, only precancerous cells are present in your cervix.
Stage 1: In this stage of cervical cancer, cancer cells go down in your deep tissues and possibly to your uterus or nearby lymph nodes.
Stage 2: Cancer now moves beyond your cervix and uterus but is contained only in the walls of your pelvis or lower part of your vagina. It may or may not affect your surrounding lymph nodes.
Stage 3: Cancer cells spread in the lower part of your vagina or the walls of your pelvis, and it may block the ureter, the tubes that carry urine from the bladder.
Stage 4: Cancer affects your bladder and rectum and grows outside your pelvis wall. It may also show metastasis and spread to organs like the liver, bones, lungs, and lymph nodes.
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