Some women at long-term cervical cancer risk

Source: The Scotsman

Some women at long-term cervical cancer risk
By Michael Kahn

LONDON (Reuters) - Women treated for pre-cancerous lesions are at increased risk of developing cervical or vaginal cancer for at least another 25 years, according to a study suggesting that follow-up tests fall dangerously short.

Using data from Sweden's national cancer registry, the researchers said on Friday women who have had severe lesions in the cervix are more than twice as likely to develop one of the two cancers than women in the general population.

The findings underscore the need for follow-up tests to continue for at least 25 years after treatment, far longer than the current five or 10 years standard in most European countries, said Bjorn Strander, a gynaecologist at Sahlgren's University Hospital in Sweden, who led the study.

"This is a warning to the healthcare system to keep track of these women," he said in a telephone interview. "It has not been known these women remain at risk for such a very long time."



Read more: http://news.scotsman.com/latest.cfm?id=1708762007

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I'll have to inform my step-daughter.

I wasn't about to go through the next 20 years wondering if it was coming back.

Talk about unfair. . . Women who've had their ovaries removed along with their uterus need to know that they can still get the same deadly cancer that usually develops in the ovaries. There is a blood test in trials that looks promising but until then, it's just see your doctor if you have any abdominal pain, get him to order a scan. Maybe talk him into a scan even if you don't have pain since this is usually an asymptomatic cancer.

There's an internet letter that keeps making the rounds that has a lot of misinformation about a blood test you can get now; that test is only used for women who've had ovarian cancer.

Keep in contact with your gynecologist to find out about the test that's supposed to be on the market in the next year or two.

I have a friend, seventy-two, who became slightly short of breath while visiting and walking a lot in Canada. Her husband insisted she get checked out once they were home. She just thought - well seventy-two - short of breath while walking a lot - no big deal. She was diagnosed with stage IV ovarian cancer, already metathesized in the lungs. (and never smoked)

It is so important that this drug test hit the market. It will save many lives.