Why is bloody vaginal discharge a dangerous sign of cervical cancer?

Leucorrhea is a mixture of vaginal mucosal exudate and cervical gland and endometrial secretions. Normal leucorrhea is white and thin, generally odorless, and varies in amount, which is related to the level of estrogen and the congestion of the reproductive organs. For example, the amount of leucorrhea increases slightly in the first half of the menstrual period and becomes thinner, while the amount of leucorrhea decreases and becomes thicker in the second half of the menstrual period.

The cervix is ​​a female internal reproductive organ, and its lesions are not easy to be discovered by the patient herself. Even when a doctor examines, he has to use a special instrument, the speculum, to stretch the vaginal wall for visual examination. What is more easily overlooked is the early stage of cervical cancer, which does not attract the patient's attention because there is no pain. In daily life, the only early symptom that the patient can perceive is a small amount of vaginal bleeding after sexual intercourse or bimanual examination, that is, blood mixed in the leucorrhea. The blood comes from the diseased cervix. Generally, a normal cervix will not bleed, and it will only bleed when the cervix is ​​cancerous. Blood and leucorrhea are mixed and flow out of the vagina, which is what this article calls bloody leucorrhea. In addition, there is vaginal discharge, which is mainly caused by ulceration, death or infection of cancerous tissue. In the early stage, the amount of discharge is small and odorless. In the late stage, when combined with infection, a large amount of purulent rice soup-like foul-smelling leucorrhea is discharged.

If women have leucorrhea and vaginal discharge, they should go to the hospital immediately for early detection, diagnosis and treatment of cervical cancer. Otherwise, the timing will be delayed and the prognosis will be affected.