Cervical cancer

Cancer of the neck of the womb can affect women at an earlier age. It presents when it is quite advanced with irregular or unpredictable vaginal bleeding. Cells go through precancerous change before becoming cancerous. A cervical smear can look at the cells from your cervix and pick up precancerous change. At this stage you can be cured with a colposcopy, avoiding the need for surgery or radiotherapy later.

If you have very minor changes to the cells of your cervix you may be monitored with repeat colposcopies until the body returns the cells to normal. Where there are more advanced precancerous changes you will require removal or treatment of the cells, with laser, diathermy or a process called cold coagulation If you are in the early stages of cancer you may require a radical hysterectomy, and for later stages of cancer radiotherapy and chemotherapy is usually recommended.