What is Cervical Cancer?

Cervical cancer usually forms slowly over time. Before this cancer forms, the cells in the cervix undergo certain changes (dysplasia) until abnormal cells start to appear in the tissues of the cervix. Over time the abnormal cells eventually turn into cancer cells, multiply and spread into the deepest part of the uterine cervix and surrounding areas.

The main types of cervical cancer are:

• Squamous cell carcinoma. This is by far the most common type of cervical cancer (90%). It develops from precancerous lesions in the external lining of the cervix, which consists of several layers of cells that shed (squamous epithelium) and develop into squamous cell cancers if they become malignant.
• Adenocarcinoma. Much less frequently, the epithelium lining the internal portion of the cervical canal, which is formed by a single layer of glandular or mucus-secreting cells, becomes malignant and produces a glandular cell cancer or adenocarcinoma.
• Malignant tumours that originate in other types of cell (muscle, blood vessels, stroma, hormone- or melanin-producing cells) are very rare and give rise to sarcomas, carcinomas, neuroendocrine tumours, melanomas, etc. Metastasis to the cervix (the growth of tumours that originally developed in another organ) are extremely rare.

• STAGE I. Microinvasive tumours that are invisible to the naked eye and can only be diagnosed by microscopy (Stage IA) or visible tumours that are still confined to the cervix (Stage IB).
• STAGE II. Tumours that have spread into neighbouring tissues such as the ligaments that attach the cervix to the pelvic wall (parametrium) or the vagina.
• STAGE III. Tumours that extend into the lower portion of the vagina (Stage IIIA) or the pelvic wall (Stage IIIB).
• STAGE IV. Tumours that now affect the inside of the bladder or rectum (Stage IVA) or metastasis to distant organs (Stage IVB).