It is the uncontrolled growth of normal cells that have transformed into carcinomas, which occur in the cervix, right where the ectocervix (mucosa that lines the neck) and endocervix (mucosa that lines the cervical canal that leads to the neck) they join. The neck or cervix comprises the lowest part of the uterus, the place where babies grow and is the canal that leads to the vagina.
The 99% of cases of cervical cancer are attributed to the virus human papillomavirus (HPV) that fails to be removed from the body and causes cancer. In addition, other factors such as sexual promiscuity, having sex with a man who has had sexual activity with many women, tobacco use, very early sexual initiation, genital herpes, very long use of oral contraceptives, and a weak immune system can play a role.
This cancer is asymptomatic in its early stages and presents symptoms once it has spread to other organs and tissues. These can be: excessive bleeding between and after menstruation, pain and bleeding during sexual activity (vaginal intercourse), bleeding after menopause, and unusual vaginal discharge.
Although cervical and breast cancers are the easiest and simplest cancers to detect and therefore most preventable of the types of malignant tumors that exist, they correspond to the two main types of cancer with the highest incidence in the women to level global.
Although cervical cancer has declined considerably in the last ten years, in many industrialized countries, it remains one of the deadliest cancers in women living in developing countries.
Every year, about 500,000 new cases of cervical cancer are diagnosed in the world and about 250,000 die annually from this disease. In this sense, it is the second most common cancer in the world's female population, after breast cancer, which is most common of all.
In Latin America and the Caribbean, cervical cancer has not decreased, it is still on a scale of 5-6 deaths per 100,000 women. This is because prevention programs and treatment services are not adequate and for the poorest women, access to them is much more limited.
The most frequent mean age of this disease is between 40 and 55 years. On the other hand, 30% of cervical cancer cases occur in women of childbearing age and between 1 and 3% are diagnosed in pregnant women, with the average age of those affected during their pregnancy being 30 to 35 years.
