IGP stresses cervical cancer awareness
By admin
With the news that Celebrity Big Brother star and mum of two, Jade Goody, is suffering from cervical cancer at the age of just 27, Dr Joanna Longstaffe, clinical director of Cardiff’s Independent General Practice, urges Welsh women to take this as a serious warning in terms of their own health – and think carefully about what can be done to help prevent this potentially fatal disease.
“Deaths from cervical cancer have actually fallen by more than 40% over the last 20 years and this is mainly because of early detection and treatment. In this way, I cannot stress enough the importance of regular screening by way of smears – the screening process has most definitely played an integral part in decreasing deaths from cervical cancer.
“Further, with the development of new cancer vaccines, women now have an even greater chance of winning the fight but with more than 3000 cases of cervical cancer still diagnosed in the UK every year and 1000 deaths, awareness clearly still needs to be raised.
“The IGP, was one of the first clinics in Wales to take delivery of the first vaccine to be licensed and launched specifically to target Human Papilloma Virus (HPV) – the virus thought to be one of the major causes of cervical cancer. This was in 2006 and we’ve seen demand for the treatment rise year on year since,” says Dr Longstaffe.
Hailed as a massive breakthrough in cancer treatment, Gardasil offers 100% protection against the 2 main strains of HPV that trigger most cases of the disease. It also affords protection against 2 other strains of the sexually transmitted virus that cause different infections.
A prescription-only medicine, that has to be administered by a qualified doctor or nurse, Gardasil covers girls and young women aged between 9-26 years old.
The idea is to catch women before they become sexually active as if they already have a specific strain of HPV, the vaccine may not offer protection. It will still, however, guard against the remaining strains of the virus.
As the vaccine protects against 4, but not all strains of HPV, women will still need smear tests in order to help spot and treat early signs of the cancer but its introduction marked a significant advance in the protection of women’s health.
It has since been followed by the introduction of Cervarix, which is aimed at those up to the age of 55.
The Department of Health has announced plans for the widespread introduction of vaccination with Cervarix for girls aged 12 and 13 from September.
While the IGP offers both vaccines, Doctor Longstaffe says that most patients opt for Gardasil and that there are questions over the DoH choice of Cervarix.
“While any preventative measures should be encouraged, it needs to be acknowledged that Cervarix does not cover as many strains of HPV as Gardsil and it does not protect against genital warts – this message needs to be clear to those having the vaccine.
“Cervarix may have been the cheaper short term option but choosing Gardasil might have been a better preventative measure, both in terms of health and financial cost to the NHS. For example, the government has missed an opportunity to afford protection to a whole generation of young women against genital warts.
“It’s estimated that at least 50% of sexually active people will contract some form of the HPV virus during their lifetime and that in fact, anyone – whether male or female – taking part in any kind of sexual activity involving genital contact is at risk so the main point in all this is health promotion – people need to be aware of risks associated with not practising safe sex, smoking, and various other contributory factors, and be armed with the information they need to maintain a generally healthy lifestyle.”
Gardasil is administered in 3 injections – the first dose, then a follow up dose 2-3 months later and a final dose 6 months on. Each dose will cost £130.
Cervarix is also administered in 3 doses – first dose, followed by one a month later and then another 6 months after the initial dose. Privately, the cost is the same as Gardasil.
Cervical Cancer
Cervical cancer starts with cervical intracellular neoplasia (CIN), which is graded or staged to indicate severity. These are more pre-cancerous stages and can be easily treated after detection by smear. Treatment involves colposcopy (which visualises the cervix and detects the abnormal area of cells) – these are then zapped with a laser. This is usually curative in pre-cancer (again, stressing the need for regular smears to detect at this early, successfully treatable stage) and the prognosis is very good. It is then monitored by more regular smears.
Fully established cervical cancer is treated by cone biopsy (where a cone section of the cervix is surgically removed) if the patient still wants a family – or hysterectomy if not. These women still usually have smears of the vault to make sure the cells do not grow again. More advanced presentations would be rare and treated with aggressive specialist chemo or radiotherapy after surgery.
Symptoms – bleeding in between periods or after intercourse – which comes from bleeding from the cervix itself (not the uterus).
