CIN-Cervical Cancer Breakdown

Here is some information about HPV CIN 1,2,3 and CERIVAL CANCER. I obtained this from Cancer Council Victoria’s website.

The cervix
The cervix is at the lower part of the uterus (womb), which extends into the vagina. The cervix is sometimes called the neck of the womb. There is a small opening in the cervix, the cervical canal, which leads through the cervix into the main part of the uterus.
The cervix has several important functions. It produces some of the moistness that helps lubricate the vagina. It also produces the mucus that helps sperm travel up to the fallopian tubes to fertilise an egg from the ovary. The cervix holds the baby in the uterus during a pregnancy. During labour the cervix opens to allow the baby to be born.

Pap tests and dysplasia
Cervical cancer develops in stages. Pap tests are useful because they can detect abnormal cell changes that may one day become cancerous. Early detection means they can be treated before cancer happens. These changes are known as dysplasia. Pap tests are not designed to pick up cancer, although they sometimes do.

Dysplasia
Dysplasia means abnormal changes in the cells of the cervix. Abnormal cell changes are grouped as:
• Low-grade squamous intraepithelial lesions (LSIL). These are minor changes that normally go away within 12 months.
• High-grade squamous intraepithelial lesions (HSIL). These are more serious changes that require further tests and sometimes treatment.

Doctors may call abnormal cell changes ‘cervical intraepithelial neoplasia (CIN)'.
CIN is graded into CIN I, CIN II and CIN III: that is, mild, moderate and severe cervical cell changes. These are not cancer but could develop into cancer if not treated.

Cervical cancer
There are two main types of cervical cancer, named after the type of cell they start in. Squamous cell carcinoma, the most common type of cervical cancer, starts in the squamous or skin-like cells that cover the outer surface of the cervix at the top of the vagina. Adenocarcinoma is a less common type of cervical cancer. It starts in the glandular cells, in the cervical canal.

Causes of cervical cancer
Some factors seem to put some women at a higher risk of cervical cancer. These risk factors include:
• Human papilloma virus (HPV): almost everyone is infected with HPV at some stage in their life. Most cases of HPV resolve without treatment and have no ill effects. Most women who have HPV don't ever show signs of abnormal cell changes. However, in some women it can cause cell changes that lead to dysplasia. If untreated, these changes may become cancer. HPV is the cause of almost all cases of cervical cancer. There is a vaccine that prevents the types of HPV most commonly linked to cervical cancer. The vaccine is most effective if given to young girls before they are exposed to HPV, that is, before they start having sex. Through the government-funded National Immunisation Program, most girls will receive the vaccine at around the age of 12.
• Being the daughter of a woman who used the drug diethylstilboestrol (DES) during pregnancy. DES was used to prevent a miscarriage. Its use has declined since the 1940s and 1950s. DES has been linked to a rare type of cervical cancer in a small number of daughters of women who took DES while pregnant.
• Smoking, which increases the risk of cervical cancer, especially in women who have had a persistent infection with a high-risk HPV type.

For more information please go to: http://www.cancervic.org.au/about-cancer/cancer_types/cervical_cancer/base_article_6688.html