As avoidable as cervical cancer is, it is wise to understand about the stages of cervical cancer. Your health worker or specialist should know the stages of cervical cancer through their training, but you can learn about it for yourself here in this article. Read on to find out more about the stages of cervical cancer.
The medical industry will divide up the stages of cervical cancer into five categories. The first is a non-category called “stage 0″. This is a precancerous condition where abnormal or unhealthy cells similar to bumps are found in the cervix. These can develop later into cancerous cells. They will then have the ability to invade other healthy tissue.
The next of the stages of cervical cancer is a true cancerous level. It is called stage I and is itself divided into two sub categories which also have their own sub categories. To simplify the explanation a bit, stage I is primarily characterized by cancer cells that can or can not be seen through a microscope and that are of a certain size. If a cancerous area is microscopic in size and found in the cervix it is assigned the stage Ia level. Again, this level has two divisions; 1 and 2. An area of cancer that can be seen without a microscope can be assigned the stage Ib classification. This is of course a bit larger than the Ia cervical cancer and is characterized by the cancer tumor being over or under four centimeters. A tumor over four centimeters is assigned the last level of stage I, which is stage 1B2.
Next in the stages of cervical cancer is stage II. This is a serious level of cervical cancer. For this stage the cancer has metastasized ( spread ) to the areas beyond the cervix but not yet to the pelvic wall or to the vagina. This stage will have attributes that affect some, but not all of the reproductive organs. The uterus will not be affected yet by this stage of cervical cancer. Stage II has two sub categories, divided how close the cancer has gotten to the uterus. If the tissue surround the uterus is affected this is still the stage II level.
Stage III in the stages of cervical cancer is where the cancer has spread to all the major reproductive organs including the uterus, vagina, and may have also caused a kidney to stop functioning. Stage III has two levels assigned to it; IIIa and IIIb. If the cancer tumor has blocked ureters, it is now in the highest level of stage III, which is IIIb. The blocking of the ureters can make the kidneys enlarge and even stop functioning altogether. At this point the cancer may have also invaded the lymph nodes in the pelvic area. Lymph nodes are used to spread the cancer to distant areas of the body.
The last and most terrible of the stages of cervical cancer is stage IV. This is where the cancer has taken over into other areas that are distant from the ovaries. Full blown cervical cancer is to be avoided at all costs. The cancer will be in new places, such as the liver, the abdomen, the colon, the lungs and other places. A good prognosis is not likely at this most difficult in the stages of cervical cancer.
HPV can be a start to developing the stages of cervical cancer. HPV is ” human papillomavirus” and is transmitted during sexual contact. Those with many sexual partners will be at increased risk of HPV and therefore of cervical cancer. Watch your lifestyle closely and you may be able to completely avoid any stages of cervical cancer.