What are the three major characteristics of cervical cancer? What are the early symptoms of cervical cancer?

Screening for "two cancers" in women of appropriate age is an important part of equalizing public health services. Recently, after statistics on 120,000 cervical cancer screenings conducted by Anhui Da'an Medical Laboratory in the past year, it was found that many cervical cancer-positive patients were found in people outside the screening age group. Data show that cervical cancer screening should be extended to the elderly and young people to better protect women's health.

Data analysis

From January 2003 to January 2014, Anhui Province Da'an Medical Laboratory conducted a statistical analysis of cervical cancer screening data of 120,922 women of appropriate age:

1. A total of 3252 positive cases were screened, and there were 2 positive cases. 69% of the positive patients included high-grade intraepithelial lesions, low-grade intraepithelial lesions, atypical squamous cell hyperplasia, atypical squamous cell hyperplasia, etc.

2. The age range for cervical cancer screening is generally 35-65 years old, and some women are not in this age range. For example, 6,945 women under 35 years old and 973 women over 65 years old also participated in the screening.

3. The investigators counted each age group separately, and the lowest prevalence was 1.58% and the highest was 3.08%. With the increase of age, the prevalence rate increased.

4. Among them, the peak age groups for low-grade intraepithelial lesions and high-grade intraepithelial lesions are 41-45 years old and 56-60 years old, respectively, which are later than the peak age groups previously proposed by experts.

5. According to statistics, the positive rate of women over 65 years old reached 3.08%, the highest prevalence rate in this statistics;

6. Among subjects under 35 years old, the positive rate was 1. Although the overall incidence was lower than the average, the incidence of high-grade lesions was higher.

Therefore, experts recommend that the cervical cancer screening population should be extended to the elderly and young people, that is, lowering the minimum age and raising the maximum age, so that more women who may develop cervical cancer can be detected and treated early.

The incidence of cervical cancer is:

First, there are obvious geographical differences. In my country, the incidence of cervical cancer is "higher in rural areas than in cities, and higher in mountainous areas than in plains" and is mainly distributed in provinces, cities, and counties in the central region.

Second, the age of onset is bimodal, with cervical cancer in women mostly concentrated between 35 and 39 and 60 and 64 years old. However, in recent years, the number of young cases has increased significantly, and young cervical cancer patients in their 20s often appear in clinical practice.

Third, there are no symptoms in the early stage. There is no obvious difference between early cervical cancer and chronic cervicitis. Only in the late stage will vaginal bleeding, vaginal discharge, and persistent or deep pain in the lumbar sacral region occur.

Preventing early symptoms

1. Systemic symptoms

Late-stage patients have a fever due to the metabolism of cancer tissue, the absorption of necrotic tissue or concurrent infection. The body temperature is generally around 38 degrees, and a few can reach above 39 degrees. Anemia, weight loss and even malignant diseases are all caused by bleeding and consumption.

2. Increased secretions

One of the main symptoms of these diseases mainly occurs before vaginal bleeding. At first, vaginal discharge will not have any odor. As the cancer grows, secondary infection and necrosis of the cancer will increase the amount of discharge, such as rice water or mixed blood, and have a foul odor. When the tumor spreads upward and involves the endometrium, the patient may experience lower abdominal discomfort, lower abdominal pain, back pain, and fever.

3. Other symptoms

The cancer can spread forward and invade the bladder. Patients may experience frequent urination, urgency, pain, falling, and hematuria, which are often misdiagnosed as urinary tract infection, leading to delayed diagnosis.

4. Pain

It is a symptom of advanced cervical cancer. The cancer extends along the tissue, invades the pelvic wall, and compresses the peripheral nerves. The clinical manifestation is persistent pain in the sciatic nerve or sacroiliac nerve. The tumor compresses or erodes the ureter, narrows the ureter, and the obstruction leads to hydronephrosis, which manifests as low back pain or even severe pain. It further develops into renal failure and leads to uremia. Invasion of the lymphatic system leads to lymphatic obstruction, lower limb edema and pain.

Prevention and early diagnosis methods

1. Use colposcopy to observe the abnormal epithelium and blood vessel variations on the surface of the cervix.

2. Look for cancer cells through cervical smear.

3. Finally, biopsy of the cervix and cervical canal is taken for pathological examination. This is the most reliable method to diagnose cervical cancer and precancerous lesions. It can distinguish between carcinoma in situ and invasive cancer. It can also distinguish between other cervical lesions such as tuberculosis, ulcers, polyps, papilloma, etc.