Screening for cervical cancer

Cervical cancer screening is testing for pre-cancer and cancer among women who have no symptoms and may feel perfectly healthy. When screening detects pre-cancerous lesions, these can easily be treated and cancer avoided. Screening can also detect cancer at an early stage and treatment has a high potential for cure.

Because pre-cancerous lesions take many years to develop, screening is recommended for every woman from aged 30 to 49 at least once in a lifetime and ideally once in 5 years.

Screening is only effective on cervical cancer mortality, if a high proportion of women participate.

There are 3 different types of screening tests are currently available:

Women who are sexually active should be screened for abnormal cervical cells and pre-cancerous lesions, starting from 30 years of age.Treatment of early lesions and pre cancer can often be done by short procedures which do not require hospitalisation like

• Cryotherapy (destroying abnormal tissue on the cervix by freezing it)
• Thermocogulation (destroying abnormal tissue on the cervix by applying heat) or
• Loop electrosurgical excision procedure (LEEP)

OTHER ways of Testing for detection of Cervical cancer:

• A pelvic examination done under general anesthetic (while you're asleep) – your womb, vagina, rectum and bladder will be checked for cancer
• Blood tests – to help assess the state of your liver, kidneys and bone marrow
• A CT scan – used to help identify cancerous tumors and show whether cancerous cells have spread
• A MRI scan – also used to check whether the cancer has spread
• A chest X-ray – to check if the cancer has spread to the lungs
• A PET scan – often combined with a CT scan to see if the cancer has spread, or to check how well a person is responding to treatment