killer in women

Talk about killer, it's not the serial killer, but the silent killer in ourselves specific to women.

Statistic had shown that the second most common cancer in women is cervical cancer after breast cancer in Malaysia.

I realize that when i was in the gynae ward, most of the patient are cervical cancer patient who are currently undergoing radio and chemotherapy.

For those who did not know, cervix is the area between the uterus and the vagina. This area has a junction between two types of cell those it tend to get abnormal.


So who are at risk?

All women between the age of 21 tp 65 years old who is :
1. Hpv infection
2.sexually active
3.early sexual experience
4. multiple partners
5. Had sexually transmitted disease


The precancerous cell grow silently without showing any symptoms until it become cancer and get really worse. But good news it can be prevented from becoming cancerous by doing screening which we call as pap smear.


Who is eligible for the test?

All women between the age of 21 to 65 years old and sexually active (for practicing muslim:those who is married)


But why does the statistic is still high?

Since our government did not have enough financial source to do a mass screening for everyone, we only do opportunistic screening, whereby if a lady come to the clinic especially with a OnG problem, they will educate them to do pap smear. If more ladies have the knowledge about this cancer and the awareness to come regularly for cervical smear, then the statistic can be reduce.

It is sad to see these ladies at the ward suffering from this disease thou it can be prevented if it is detected earlier even before it become cancer.


Vaccination

Well, research has come out with vaccine for HPV. But since is it expensive, so it cannot be given to all. It is not 100% sure that those taken the vaccine are preventable from getting the cancer. They still have to do the pap smear from time to time.

Spread the word to any women in your family about this. come and do pap smear!