The absence of symptoms allows the unsuspecting person to postpone a much needed visit to the doctor. If, however, the cancer spreads to other organs before treatment is initiated, the survival rate drops significantly. Deferring sexual activity until older than 18 years of age, practicing monogamy, and safer sex behaviors all reduce the potential for cervical cancer. A routine pelvic examination, including a Pap smear should be performed yearly beginning at the onset of sexual activity, or by the age of 20 in non-sexually active women. Pap smears detect abnormalities in the cells of the cervix , thus alerting the physician that further tests may need to be done.
Early detection allows treatment to begin before cancer has actually developed.
However, the cervix almost always looks normal in the early stages of the disease. Pap smear shows abnormal cells, dysplasia, or cervical cancer. Colposcopy suggests cervical cancer and pinpoints areas of concern. A cone biopsy , which is the removal of a wedge of the cervix for biopsy , is sometimes enough to remove all of the malignant cells of a surface cancer. A hysterectomy is still the choice of many, but for those women with the desire to have children in the future, these alternate methods frequently allow them to do so.