What are the symptoms of cervical cancer

Cervical cancer is by far one of the most common and dangerous gynecological pathologies. Unfortunately, this pathology today mainly affects young women of reproductive age. The main etiological factor causing cervical cancer is papillomavirus infection - a sexually transmitted disease. Despite the huge selection of barrier methods of contraception that exist in the modern world, the prevalence of this infection and cervical cancer is still very high. Depending on the stage of the disease, cervical cancer has a characteristic clinical picture.

Clinical presentation and classification of the cervical river

The main feature and at the same time the danger of cervical cancer lies in the fact that the clinical picture of this pathology, and papillomavirus infection, may be absent for a long time. Quite often, cervical cancer is diagnosed already in advanced stages, which leads to high mortality in this pathology. Nevertheless, cervical cancer can be quite easily prevented, since the disease itself is preceded by a fairly long precancerous process. Timely detection and treatment of papillomavirus infection is the basis for the prevention of cervical cancer.

Cervical cancer:

• causes and factors predisposing to the development of cervical cancer;
• classification of cervical cancer depending on the prevalence of the process;
• clinical presentation of cervical cancer: characteristic symptoms.

Causes and factors predisposing to the development of cervical cancer

The main etiological factor in the occurrence of cervical cancer is human papillomavirus infection. The human papillomavirus is sexually transmitted and triggers a malignant process in the cervix: normal epithelial cells of the cervix are replaced by atypical ones. This process is called cervical dysplasia, and it also goes through several stages. Risk factors for the development of dysplasia and cervical cancer are considered to be:

• early onset of sexual activity;
• early first pregnancy;
• A large number of sexual partners and various sexual relationships;
• previous sexually transmitted diseases;
• long-term contraceptive use;
• smoking.

Classification of cervical cancer depending on the prevalence of the process

Histologically, cervical cancer can be represented by two types: squamous cell carcinoma, which occurs in almost 90% of cases, and much less frequently diagnosed adenocarcinoma. Tumor growth is more often exophytic, that is, into the cervical canal, less often endophytic - into the wall of the organ. Depending on the prevalence of the pathological process, cervical cancer is classified as follows:

• Stage 0 - cancer in situ, i.e. malignant processes do not spread to surrounding tissues;
• Stage 1 - the tumor process is limited to the cervix only, while:

• Stage 1A – tumor invasion depth up to 5 mm;
• Stage 1B – depth of tumor invasion more than 5 mm;

• Stage 2 - tumor has spread beyond the cervix, but:

• stage 2A - infiltration only reaches the middle third of the vagina or body of the uterus;
• stage 2B - the tumor process affects the parameters, but does not reach the walls of the pelvis;

• stage 3 - cancer has spread beyond the cervix, but:

• Stage 3A - Tumor has spread to the lower third of the vagina;
• Stage 3B - tumor spreads to the pelvic wall;

• Stage 4 - the malignant process affects neighboring organs and the tumor metastasizes, while:

• stage 4A - the tumor invades the bladder or rectal wall;
• Stage 4B - distant metastases of the malignant process are observed.

Clinical presentation of cervical cancer: characteristic symptoms

The clinical picture of cervical cancer has its own characteristics. In the early stages of the malignant process, there are no symptoms of pathology, and patients do not seek gynecological consultation for a long time. But since papillomavirus infection is often combined with other sexually transmitted infectious diseases, atypical processes of the cervix can be diagnosed by chance, during the patient's treatment for another pathology. Symptoms of cervical cancer appear already in the last stages of the malignant process. Contact bleeding that occurs after or during intercourse disturbs the patient at the stage of cancer invasion. With advanced forms of cervical cancer, patients may complain of putrid, fetid discharge from the genital tract, pain in the lower abdomen, in the lumbar region and kidneys, fever and weight loss. When the cancer grows into neighboring organs, there are complaints about the violation of the acts of urination and defecation.

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