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What is cervical cancer

Cervical cancer is a disease that affects the cervix of the female reproductive system. Cervix is at the lower end of uterus, and connects uterus to vagina. Cervical cancer symptoms include pelvic pain, bleeding, unusual vaginal discharge and pain during intercourse.

Risk Factors for Cervical Cancer

When women have the following experiences, they should be aware of the possibility of getting cervical cancer:

• Give birth to many children
• Have many sexual partners
• Have first sexual intercourse at a young age
• Smoking cigarettes
• Oral contraceptive use ("the Pill")

Note: One of the greatest risk factors is infected with HPV (human papillomavirus). A weakened immune system is another risk factor for cervical cancer.

Precautions Prior to Pap smear

• do not douche
• do not insert a tampon
• do not have intercourse
• do not bathe in the tub
• avoid scheduling your pap test during your menstrual cycle. During menstrual period, blood and endometrial cells can hinder the accuracy of the test.

What Do Pap Smear Results Mean?

When you receive a normal Pap test means the cells from the cervix look normal. On the other hand, an abnormal Pap test means the cells do not look normal. However, when you receive an abnormal Pap test, do not get alarmed at first, it does not necessarily mean that cancer cells were found during the examination. There are many causes for abnormal Pap test results, including infection, inflammation related to using a diaphragm or sex, and changes related to your menstrual cycle. Your doctor will evaluate the results to determine if further testing is necessary. Also, sometimes repeat Pap tests are needed due to too less cells were collected to be tested at the time. Different tests also may need to be done, such as a colposcopy. Pap tests can occasionally show signs of infection but cannot be relied on to screen for sexually transmitted diseases.

How to prevent Cervical cancer

Preventing cervical cancer begins with avoiding the aforementioned risk factors. Also all women should have regular Pap smears to see if there is any abnormal cervical change that may incur cervical cancer. The HPV vaccine, Gardasil, is highly effective of preventing at least 70% of HPV related cervical cancer. It is currently available to young women aged from 9 to 26 years old.

Cervical Pap smear examination (Health Screening Services)

National Health Insurance provides all Taiwanese women over 30 years old a free annual cervical Pap smear examination. Just bring along your health insurance card and ID card to gynecology department.