Health & Fitness
Take charge of your health: January is Cervical Health Awareness Month
One important New Year's resolution a woman can make: see a healthcare provider and undergo a pelvic examination and pap smear. Screening can save your life.
One important New Year’s resolution a woman can make is to see a healthcare provider and undergo a pelvic examination and pap smear to prevent a diagnosis of cervical cancer. Sounds simple, doesn’t it? It is!
The American Cancer Society estimates 12,700 women were diagnosed with cervical cancer in 2011, with approximately 4,400 deaths.
Many of these cases could have been prevented through screening with pap smears or vaccination with the Human Papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine.
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Pap smears detect precancerous changes that occur in cells. Treatment can prevent precancerous changes from becoming a cervical cancer. The American Congress of Obstetricians and Gynecologists recommends that women begin annual screening at age 21. For women below 21, screening is recommended if they are sexually active or have a complaint.
HPV is the major cause of genital warts, precancerous cervical changes and cervical cancer. HPV is a common virus that is sexually transmitted. Fortunately, our immune system usually clears an HPV infection. If the virus is not cleared, precancerous changes and perhaps a cancer can occur.
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Vaccination with the HPV vaccine can prevent an HPV infection in young women and men. Studies have shown that the vaccine is safe and effective but needs to be given before infection with HPV has occurred. Vaccinations are given in three doses over a six-month period.
The Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) recommends that HPV vaccination for girls begin routinely at ages 11 or 12 or given to females aged 13 to 26 who have not yet been vaccinated. Vaccination for males can be given between the ages of 9 and 26.
Cervical cancer, when found early, can be treated and cured.
So let’s make a resolution to go for cervical cancer screening and HPV vaccination. It may be the New Year’s resolution that saves a life!
Courtesy of Darlene G. Gibbon, M.D., clinical director of gynecologic oncology at The Cancer Institute of New Jersey (CINJ) and an associate professor of obstetrics, gynecology and reproductive sciences at UMDNJ-Robert Wood Johnson Medical School.
