The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG) issued their newly revised, evidence-based cervical cancer screening guidelines on Friday. They’re published in the December issue of Obstetrics & Gynecology.

The new guidelines advise that most women under 30 years old should have a cervical screening (Pap test) once every two years rather than annually. Women age 30 and older may be re-screened once every three years provided that they’ve had three consecutive negative cervical cytology test results. According to ACOG, women vaccinated against HPV still need to follow the same screening guidelines as unvaccinated women.

Exceptions
Women with certain risk factors will still need to be screened more often. The risk factors include: HIV, immunosuppression, exposure to diethylstilbestrol (DES) in utero, or previous treatment for cervical intraepithelial neoplasia (CIN) 2, CIN 3, or cervical cancer.

The ACOG now recommends that women may wait until they’re 21 to have their first Pap test. Invasive cervical cancer is very rare in women under age 21, and the ACOG noted that HPV-related precancerous lesions (dysplasia) in adolescents usually resolve on their own without treatment. Researchers have also seen an increase in premature births among women who had excisional procedures for dysplasia.

“Adolescents have most of their childbearing years ahead of them, so it’s important to avoid unnecessary procedures that negatively affect the cervix,” said Alan G. Waxman, MD, who headed the document by ACOG’s Committee on Practice Bulletins-Gynecology.

Cervical Cancer Rates
Due to the widely used Pap test, cervical cancer rates have plunged more than 50% in the last 30 years. In 2006, only 6.5 per 100,000 women had cervical cancer, compared to 14.8 per 100,000 in 1975. Currently, most new cervical cancer cases in the US occur in women who either haven’t been screened at all or those who get screened very rarely.

How do you feel about the new cervical cancer screening guidelines?

(Image via MorgueFile)

Post from: Blisstree

New Cervical Cancer Screening Guidelines

The Mayo Clinic published 10 tips to reduce cancer risk in their most recent issue of Mayo Clinic Women’s HealthSource.

Here are the tips and below there’s more explanation:

1. Stop smoking
2. Limit alcohol intake – some alcohol is okay, too much is not
3. Follow recommended intake of fruits and vegetable (daily!)
4. Decrease the amount of fat in your daily diet
5. Lose weight if you’re too heavy, try to gain weight if you’re too thin
6. Move! Get active
7. Watch your skin (from the sun and don’t use tanning beds)
8. Don’t take chances when having sex. Protect yourself.
9. See your doctor regularly and take part in recommenced screening tests
10. If you have had cancer or are at particularly high risk, speak with your doctor about chemoprevention, which is taking medications to reduce the risk of new cancers

How and why do these steps help?

First of all, none of these are a surprise. All these recommendations, save for the last one, are recommended to help reduce the risk of developing many health problems, such as type 2 diabetes, hypertension, heart disease, and more. So by following these tips, you’re helping your body more than you may realize.

Smoking: Did you know that smoking not only increases your risk of developing lung cancer, but also mouth (tongue, cheek, palate, throat, gum) cancer? Your risk of bladder cancer also climbs quite a bit. Smoking affects your whole body, not just your lungs. Also, the social act of smoking is often accompanied by other not-so-healthy lifestyle factors, like drinking alcohol, limiting exercise, and so on. By quitting the cigarettes, your risk drops every day you’re no longer a smoker.

Alcohol: Many of us like to enjoy a good glass of wine, a cold bottle of beer, a good scotch – and many of us limit ourselves to a moderate number of glasses. However, if you drink too much, more than the recommended amount for your sex, you increase your risk of mouth, pharynx, larynx, esophagus, liver, colon and rectum cancers.

Fruits and vegetables: It’s not that difficult to add the recommended amounts of fruits and vegetables into your daily diet, but it does take planning. Unfortunately, with the hectic lifestyles many people lead these days, food planning often goes out the door. Five servings of fruits and vegetables daily are the minimal amount that you should be taking in. The thing is, servings are not huge, so this is not impossible. Two and a half cups of fruits or vegetables over the course of the day is maybe one apple, one tomato and a couple of stalks of celery. That’s not too much, is it?

Limiting fat: This one may be of the easiest things to do. Fat is an essential part of the human diet; we need it for our body to function properly. However, the type of fat and the amount you get is important.

This table, from the USDA, shows you how much fat you should have according to the number of calories you should have per day:

And this table, from the same source, gives you an idea of what foods have what fat:

Source: ARS Nutrient Database for Standard Reference, Release 17.

Weight control: Being a healthy weight for your body build helps your body in many ways. It can even help reduce the pain of osteoarthritis for some people. Being too thin also has health issues, so keep that in mind if you are trying to lose weight.

Get active: Enough said!

Watch your skin: Tanning is not beautiful – any change in your skin color means there is damage going on. Don’t use tanning beds – they’re even worse than the sun. Plus, too much sun exposure doesn’t just contribute to skin cancer, it makes your skin old, dry and wrinkly well before its time.

Protect yourself from sexually transmitted infections: Sex with people without protection exposes you to hepatitis and HIV, both of which are very high risk for cancer, let alone the disease itself. Human papillomavirus (HPV) causes genital warts, some of which can cause cervical cancer, cancer of the cervix.

Screening tests: Screening tests for prostate cancer, cervical cancer, breast cancer, are all over the news, but don’t forget the other screenings that you can have done. You can have a colonoscopy to check for the beginnings of colon cancer and you can have your skin checked regularly to look for signs of skin cancer. If you are at high risk of a particular type of cancer, speak with your doctor about screening for that, as well. And, don’t forget your dentist. He or she is the one who can detect signs of oral cancer.

Chemoprevention: This is a relatively new area, most commonly known for women who take Tamoxifen to help reduce the risk of breast cancer coming back. You may want to speak with your doctor about this if you are at a high risk of cancer or you have already had it.

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Images: MorgueFile.com

Post from: Blisstree

10 Tips for Reducing Cancer Risk

Sadly, Natalie, the 14-year-old, became ill shortly after being vaccinated and she died not long after. Of course, it wasn’t hard not to blame the vaccine as it certainly appeared that the cause and effect was there. But after examining Natalie’s body, doctors confirmed that her death was not due to the vaccine, but rather that, Natalie had an undetected malignant (cancerous) tumor in her chest. The tumor had infiltrated (gone into) her heart and one of her lungs.

You can read more about the sad story in this article, Cancer Vaccine Girl Died Of Malignant Chest Tumor.

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Image: StockXchng.com

Post from: Blisstree

HPV Vaccine Not Cause of U.K. Girl’s Death

In Berlin yesterday, Professor Jack Cuzick of Cancer Research UK told Europe’s largest cancer congress that HPV is “responsible for all cervix cancer.” He says that while the current vaccine only protects against two strains of the virus, soon there will be a vaccine that works against all nine strains. The more effective vaccine, combined with HPV testing, which is more sensitive than the Pap smear, could lead to the demise of cervical cancer, Cuzick said.

Prof Cuzick argues that since HPV screening is more effective, it could be done less frequently, streamlining the process. Regarding HPV testing instead of the Pap smear, Cuzik said, “… it’s also been shown that the protection lasts longer so that screening every five to seven years is probably appropriate.”

How do you feel about more accurate, but less frequent testing for cervical cancer?

(Image via stock.xchng)

Post from: Blisstree

Cervical Cancer to Disappear in 50 years?

Oral cancers, of the tongue, gums, lips or mouth, are in the rise around the world. And the sad fact is that most oral cancers are preventable. According to the American Cancer Society ,

Most oral cancers could be prevented if people did not use tobacco or drink heavily.
Quitting tobacco and limiting alcohol use sharply reduce any risk of developing oral cancer, even after many years of use. Many oral cancers may be found early by a combination of routine screening examinations by a doctor or dentist and by self-examination.

Another cause of oral cancer, of the lips, is the sun. Just as we protect our skin from the harmful rays, we need to protect our lips, using lip balms that contain sun block. This isn’t just for the summer either – if you’re an avid outdoor winter sports person, the sun can be particularly hard on your lips as it bounces off the snow.

The use of alcohol and tobacco and its relationship to oral cancer shouldn’t be surprising, but what may surprise many people is the effect of HPV (human papillomavirus) on the rising incidence of oral cancer. This risk is even higher if combined with smoking cigarettes or drinking alcohol.

HPV is the same virus that may cause women to develop cancer of the cervix. The virus has been the target of a vaccine that was recently developed, targeting young women who are not yet sexually active.

Fight Oral Cancer website

The Fight Oral Cancer website was started by Arma Shahidi Fitzgerald after the death of close friend to the disease. According to her homepage,

This cancer kills more people than breast cancer. Over 480,000 cases of oral cancer occur each year worldwide, over 34,000 cases each year in the U.S. When compared to other cancers very little has been done to inform the public on how they can avoid the ravages of oral cancer.

Learning about oral cancer

So, if this cancer is becoming so common, why don’t we hear more about it? It isn’t getting the same attention as breast cancer or prostate cancer but who knows why it’s still in the shadows. But, with sites like Fight Oral Cancer and by spreading the news about it, the awareness may increase and people may become more possibility of oral cancer.

Symptoms

The symptoms of oral cancer may be confused with something else in the mouth, but if you notice anything unusual, it’s best to contact your dentist or doctor to have it checked as soon as possible. With early treatment, most oral cancers have a good prognosis.

According to the MayoClinic.com, the symptoms of oral cancer include:

• A sore that doesn’t heal
• A lump or thickening of the skin or lining of your mouth
• A white or reddish patch on the inside of your mouth
• Loose teeth
• Poorly fitting dentures
• Tongue pain
• Jaw pain or stiffness
• Difficult or painful chewing
• Difficult or painful swallowing
• Sore throat
• Feeling that something is caught in your throat

Don’t be worried about feeling foolish if everything checks out ok. When it comes to cancer, it’s best to err on the side of caution, because the alternative is to have the disease and let it spread.

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Image: FightOralCancer.com

Post from: Blisstree

One Person, Every Hour of Every Day…

The HPV tests were recently approved by the FDA, but what does that mean for you? Dr. Michael A. Gold has some answers for you.

Dr. Gold is Associate Professor and Division Director of Gynecologic Oncology at Vanderbilt University Medical Center. He sits on the board of the American Society of Colposcopy and Cervical Pathology and is an active member of many professional societies. He also conducts research in cervical cancer and pre-cancererous abnormalities.

Are HPV tests recommended in addition to Pap smears for some women? If so, why?

Dr. Michael A. Gold: HPV tests are recommended in two situations. First, to help triage a minimally abnormal pap test reported as ASC-US (Atypical Squamous Cells of Undetermined Significance). Only 10% of women with this pap report have a pre-cancererous abnormality known as dysplasia. If high risk HPV testing (testing for the 13 or 14 types of HPV which are at the highest risk for causing cancer or pre-cancer) is performed and is positive, the risk of having a pre-cancererous abnormality increases to 20% and those women are referred on for further evaluation. If the high risk HPV test is negative, the risk is less than 1% of having a pre-cancererous abnormality and those women can be reassured and continued on routine annual screening.

The second situation in which HPV testing is recommended is in conjunction with a pap test for women 30 and older. If both are negative, those women can space future screening out to every 3 years. If the pap smear is normal but the high risk HPV test is positive, they would undergo repeat pap test and high risk HPV in 12 months. If persistently high risk HPV positive, they will then undergo further evaluation.

How will the new tests, HPV HR and HPV 16/18, assist you in better treating patients?

Dr. Michael A. Gold: The new HPV HR (high risk) test is thought to be more accurate than the previous test and so will better determine whether or not a patient is HPV positive. The HPV 16/18 test tests for the two types of high risk HPV (of the 14 types tested for in the HPV HR) that are most likely to cause cervical cancer (approximately 65-75%) and pre-cancererous abnormalities (65%). Currently, this test has been recommended by the ASCCP (American Society of Colposcopy and Cervical Pathology) to be used in women over 30 who have a normal pap test but are high risk HPV positive.

If positive for HPV 16/18, these women are recommended to proceed with further evaluation while those who are high risk HPV positive but HPV 16/18 negative (therefore positive for one of the other high risk types), can repeat a pap test and high risk HPV test in 12 months. Because 25-35% of cervical cancer and pre-cancererous abnormalities are caused by other high risk HPV types besides 16/18, the HPV 16/18 test is not recommended to replace the standard high risk HPV test in either of the recommended situations described above.

When will the new HPV tests become available to patients?

Dr. Michael A. Gold: We anticipate that the HPV HR and HPV 16/18 tests will be available this summer.

Death rates from cervical cancer have fallen since Pap test screening became routine, but thousands of women still die from the disease each year. How can those deaths be prevented?

Dr. Michael A. Gold: Since 1950, the numbers of cases of cervical cancer in the United States have dropped from about 60,000 per year to a plateau of about 11,000 annually. Most of these remaining cases occur in women who have not had a recent pap smear. Continued outreach to rural, elderly, immigrant, and minority populations can increase screening rates and hopefully decrease the incidence further. The HPV vaccine, which includes HPV 16 & 18, will hopefully decrease the number of women being diagnosed with cervical cancer (and will definitely decrease the numbers of women with pre-cancererous abnormalities), but this impact will not be seen for many years.

Do you have anything to add?

Dr. Michael A. Gold: We anticipate a multidisciplinary consensus conference to be held early next year to make other recommendations for use of HPV 16/18 and future type specific testing.

(Image via flickr)

Post from: Blisstree

Interview on New HPV Testing

Jade was laid to rest today in England. She died March 22 at the very young age of 27 from cervical cancer. She was the subject of scrutiny and fascination for her often outrageous views. But in the last months of her life, she choose to have her private battle with cervical cancer filmed to help “raise money for the education of her two young sons.” In doing so she also educated the rest of us about the nastiness of cervical cancer.

Images: splashnewsonline.com.

Post from: Blisstree

Jade Goody Laid to Rest

A new study out has weighed in on the benefits of circumcision – the potential that it can help prevent the spread of the human papillomavirus (HPV). A few forms of HPV are responsible for a significant number of cervical cancer cases, as well as genital warts.

According to an article over at WebMD , the risk of circumcised men contracting genital wards dropped by 25% and contracting HPV by 35%. The article also points out that women who only have one partner and he is circumcised, have a lower chance of developing cervical cancer, according to earlier studies.

Just some fuel to add to the circumcision debate. Now, to find something on breastfeeding…

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Image: iStock

Post from: Blisstree

Could circumcision reduce STD spread?

Goody rose to fame as the sometimes impetuous gal from Big Brother, a reality show that films a house full of contestants as they try and live together. She joined the cast in 2002, and quickly gained popularity for her loud and sometimes abrasive ways.

She was evicted from the Big Brother house after an altercation with Shilpa Shetty, a Bollywood Actress. Later, she was invited by the Indian Tourism Office to come to India and even be on their version of Big Brother. It was on that show that she very publicly received her diagnosis of cervical cancer.

She died in her sleep early Sunday morning in her England home.

Images: INF

Post from: Blisstree

Jade Goody Dies from Cervical Cancer

I posted an article this morning about my disappointment that a vaccine to prevent HPV (human papilloma virus) which causes cervical cancer has morphed into an argument about whether girls should have sex.

The issue of whether states will require girls to be vaccinated against HPV upon entering public schools is one most states are currently debating or will debate shortly.

Many are saying it should be the parents’ right to choose whether their child should be vaccinated.

My position is that every girl, regardless of her parents, has a right to basic healthcare and that includes access to a vaccine which prevents cervical cancer.

I’d love to hear what you think about this very important issue. Please let me know in comments on So Sioux Me and/or right here at Blogfabulous.

Post from: Blisstree

HPV Vaccine, Girls’ Right to Health