Cervical Cancer

The only way we know of preventing cancer of the cervix is by regular PAP testing. Each year more than 550 Ontario women develop and 150 women die from cervical cancer, an essentially preventable disease. That is approximately 38 cases and ten deaths per year in the City of Ottawa. By reducing risk factors and having PAP tests to detect pre-cancerous conditions, you can help protect yourself from developing cervical cancer.

Your risk increases with:

  • first sexual intercourse at age 19 or younger (young women are more susceptible to the Human Papillomavirus (HPV) infection);
  • three or more sexual partners over a lifetime (greater chance of getting HPV);
  • a sexual partner who has or has had multiple partners or a history of HPV infection;
  • HIV infection (the immune system of a woman infected with HIV, the virus that causes AIDS, is less able to fight both HPV and early cancers);
  • cigarette smoking.

Prevention:

Get regular PAP tests:

A PAP test is a screening test that shows changes in the cells of the cervix before cancer actually occurs (the cervix is the opening to the uterus). When a PAP test is done, some cells from the cervix are taken for examination. This is done during a routine pelvic exam.

  • Women of all ages who are, or ever have been, sexually active should have a PAP test.
  • After three normal PAP tests (reported as satisfactory for evaluation) at one-year intervals, screening should be continued every every two to three years.
  • If there have been three normal PAP tests in the previous ten years, screening may be discontinued after the age of 70.
  • Practice safer sex, use a condom.

Health Canada approved a vaccine that can protect women from most cases of cervical cancer. The vaccine is available through family physicians for females aged nine to twenty-six for the prevention of cervical cancer, vulvar cancer, vaginal cancer, precancerous lesions and genital warts caused by the Human Papillomavirus (HPV).

*Note: these recommendations do not apply to those women who have had previously abnormal PAP tests.

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