Will cervicitis turn into cancer if it is not treated properly? Is annual physical examination effective in preventing cervical cancer?

Cervicitis is a common disease in women of childbearing age, both acute and chronic. Acute cervicitis often coexists with acute endometritis or acute vaginitis, and is more common in clinical practice than chronic cervicitis. Cervicitis is mostly caused by excessive sexual activity or habitual miscarriage, childbirth and artificial abortion that damage the cervix, leading to bacterial invasion and inflammation. There are many types of chronic cervicitis, such as cervical erosion, cervical hypertrophy, cervical polyps, cervical glandular cysts, endocervical endometritis, etc., among which cervical erosion is the most common.

The main symptom of cervicitis is increased vaginal discharge. Acute cervicitis causes purulent vaginal discharge, accompanied by lower abdominal and lumbosacral pain, or bladder irritation symptoms such as frequent urination, urgency, and pain when urinating. Chronic cervicitis causes vaginal discharge that is milky white and mucous, or light yellow and purulent. When inflammation spreads along the uterosacral ligament to the pelvic cavity, there may be lumbosacral pain, lower abdominal swelling, and dysmenorrhea, which worsens with each bowel movement and sexual intercourse.

The commonly used examination for cervicitis is cervical smear cytology, which is a routine gynecological examination, simple, easy, cost-effective, and the most important auxiliary examination and the preferred initial screening method for cancer prevention surveys. Colposcopy can quickly detect lesions that are invisible to the naked eye. Taking biopsies from suspicious areas during colposcopy can significantly improve the accuracy of biopsies. Gynecological examinations focus on checking the size, shape, texture, thickness of the cervix, and whether there is contact bleeding, and then checking the vulva, vagina, uterus, and parauterine tissue. Iodine tests and naked eye observation are very simple and cheap, and can detect at least two-thirds of lesions.

After excluding malignant lesions and controlling special or non-special infections, cervicitis mainly undergoes local treatment to make the columnar epithelium on the surface of erosion necrotize and fall off, and cover with new squamous epithelium. When cervicitis occurs, the vaginal self-cleaning function cannot solve the problem. Detergent is applied deep into the vaginal vault and cervix to significantly improve the inflammation of the vault. Keep the vulva clean, use pH4 weak acid female care liquid to clean the vulva, change underwear frequently, and temporarily prohibit sexual intercourse and bathing after taking the medicine. If there is a lot of mucus, 5% potassium dichromate and 20%~40% silver nitrate can also be used.

Cervicitis is also a human factor

Cervicitis is a common gynecological disease in women, but it is very harmful. Many women experience symptoms such as increased vaginal discharge, purulent discharge, low back pain, and lower abdominal discomfort, which seriously affect their lives. So, what are the causes of cervicitis?

Causes of cervicitis

1. Human factors

Due to the carelessness of medical staff, gauze, cotton balls or other foreign objects are left in the birth canal for too long, which can easily induce infection and lead to acute cervicitis. In some cervical surgeries, the expansion of cervical injury or perforation, as well as the diagnosis of cervical or uterine injury, are also causes of acute cervicitis.

2. Mechanical stimulation or injury

Secondary infection of cervical laceration caused by childbirth or abortion is the cause of acute cervicitis; too frequent sexual intercourse will also increase the chance of infection of acute cervicitis. This is also one of the common causes of cervicitis.

Pathogen Factors

The most common ones are purulent inflammations caused by Staphylococcus, Escherichia coli, Streptococcus, Neisseria gonorrhoeae, Chlamydia trachomatis, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, viruses, Trichomonas, etc.

Can cervicitis cause cancer?

The public has two completely opposite misunderstandings about cervicitis: one is that for married women, it neither affects work nor life, and is unimportant, whether it is treated or not; the other is that cervicitis is a precancerous lesion and is incurable, and personal emotions and daily life are affected by "cancer fear".

Cervicitis is an inflammation caused by cervical pathogens and various pathogenic factors. From the current research situation, cervicitis is usually related to infections such as bacteria, viruses, chlamydia, mycoplasma, etc. The main cause of cervicitis is long-term chronic stimulation of the cervix and cervical injury, such as childbirth, abortion and surgery, as well as the invasion of pathogens. Under the stimulation of long-term chronic inflammation, the columnar epithelium of the cervical canal may undergo atypical hyperplasia. If it is not treated promptly and correctly, it will gradually develop in the direction of cervical precancerous lesions. Because cervical erosion is often combined with papillomavirus (HpV), it is currently confirmed that the occurrence of cervical cancer is closely related to HPV infection. Persistent HPV infection is the most important risk factor for stimulating malignant transformation of cervical epithelium. HPV can be repeatedly infected and repeatedly infected, with a short infection period, often disappearing within 8 to 10 months, and about 10% to 15% of women are in a state of persistent infection. Women who are persistently infected with high-risk viruses have a 250-fold increased risk of high-risk lesions, which generally takes 5 to 10 years.

Cancer prevention survey data show that 0 people have no cervical erosion. 39% have cervical cancer, while 2 people have cervical erosion. 05% have cervical cancer. This shows that active treatment of chronic cervicitis and active preventive measures are of great significance to protecting women's health and preventing cervical cancer. Chronic cervicitis and cervical cancer have some common symptoms, such as vaginal bleeding after sexual intercourse or bloody vaginal discharge. In the above cases, cervical smears, liquid-based cell tests, colposcopy and cervical biopsy must be performed to exclude cancer before cervicitis can be treated.

After excluding malignant lesions and controlling special or non-special infections, cervicitis mainly undergoes local treatment to make the columnar epithelium on the surface of the erosion necrotize and fall off, and cover it with new squamous epithelium. Physical therapy is the method with good efficacy and shortest course of treatment for cervical erosion. It is suitable for cases with large erosion surface and deep inflammation penetration. Commonly used clinical methods include: laser, freezing, infrared coagulation and microwave. Cervicitis has long been recorded in ancient Chinese medical books. Most doctors believe that it is mainly closely related to spleen deficiency and dampness and heat. The main treatment method is to strengthen the Ren belt. Due to different causes of dampness, the treatment methods are also different. Methods such as strengthening the spleen and removing dampness, clearing heat and promoting dampness, warming the kidney and removing dampness, and removing rot and promoting muscle regeneration can be used.

Women should learn to cherish themselves, and adult women should have a gynecological examination every year. However, early sexual life is the key to effectively prevent cervicitis, but premature, excessive, and frequent childbirth and abortion should also be avoided. The acute stage of cervicitis should be controlled, and when symptoms are found, go to the hospital for examination and thorough treatment to prevent the transformation of chronic cervicitis.