These are symptoms of an advanced cancer. Premalignant changes have no symptoms and are usually not noticeable on visual examination. Cervical cancers usually do not spread early. They tend to be slow growing and cause most of their problems in the pelvis. Although distant metastases occur they are usually late events.
Cervical cancers can spread by way of the lymphatic system.
The lymphatic vessels drain from the cervix to clusters of lymph glands along the pelvic wall. The lymphatics follow the large blood vessels so the route of drainage is upward along the pelvic wall, then along the midline of the backbone and then to the chest. If the pelvic lymph nodes on one side of the pelvis become obstructed with cancer then that will cause swelling in the leg on that side. This is another sign of advanced cancer. The diagnosis of cervical cancer is usually not difficult.