During a periodic health check-up in 2012, singer Hari Won was lucky to detect cervical cancer early. At that time, Hari felt tired and lethargic, so she went to the doctor and discovered she had an illness. Fortunately, the doctor concluded that Hari was in the early stages, she had undergone 2 surgeries and Hari's health has now recovered.
The World Health Organization (WHO) report in 2018 recorded 570,000 cases of cervical cancer. Each year, this disease kills the lives of over 300,000 women.
In Vietnam, according to a report by HPV Information Center in 2018, cervical cancer is the third most common cancer in women. Every year, there are about 4,177 new cases and 2,420 deaths from this disease, meaning that every day, 7 Vietnamese women die from cervical cancer.
Cervical cancer is a dangerous disease that is common in middle-aged women. However, recently this disease has increased rapidly and has shown clear signs of rejuvenation. If not detected and treated early, cervical cancer can have dangerous complications.
What causes cervical cancer?
Cervical cancer is caused by cells in the cervix (the lower part of the uterus) starting to grow beyond the control of the body. These new cells grow rapidly and create tumors in the cervix.
Most cases of cervical cancer are caused by HPV viruses through sex.
There are more than 100 HPV viruses, but most of them are harmless. In fact, most people are infected with HPV at some point in their life. Some HPVs may not cause any symptoms, some can cause genital warts, and some can lead to cervical cancer.
Doctors can easily detect HPV virus through Pap testing, which is why Pap testing is so important in preventing cervical cancer. Pap testing can identify abnormal cells before they become cancer.
One of the signs to recognize cervical cancer is abnormal vaginal bleeding; high vaginal secretion; pelvic and back pain; cramps; abnormalities in the urinary tract; unusual menstrual cycle...
How to prevent cervical cancer
To reduce the incidence of cancer, women should be vaccinated with a preventive HPV vaccine. The vaccine is considered safe and can fight cancer, pre-cancer and genital warts. Doctors recommend that the safe age for vaccination to be most effective is from 9 to 26 years old.
Currently, with the development of modern medicine, cervical cancer can be completely cured if detected early. In particular, cervical cancer screening is the "key" to detecting and providing effective treatment measures.
