Experts urge women to get tested for cervical cancer
SPRINGDALE, Ark. (KNWA/KFTA) — January is Cervical Cancer Awareness Month and experts urge women to get tested.
About 160 Arkansas women were diagnosed with cervical cancer and 60 women died in 2023, according to the Arkansas Department of Health.
Scarlett Grandy, certified nurse midwife at Willow Creek Women’s Hospital, says, “Pretty much all women and men are at risk of getting the HPV virus, and therefore, all women could be at risk of having a chance of getting cervical cancer.”
To detect cervical cancer, you have to get a pap smear test done.
This consists of a speculum that can either be plastic or stainless steel.
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“It’s simply placed into the vagina and open since the vagina is a closed, dark space. And that allows me to see the cervix that’s all the way at the back of the vagina,” Grandy said.
The doctor will then insert swabs to collect cells.
“We just simply rub on the cervix and then swish it in there and send it to the lab.”
Grandy says it’s important for all women to get tested starting at the age of 21.
And should continue getting tested every 3-5 years.
“So that when we catch abnormalities, they’re easily treated and the abnormal cells are removed and thereby cured and avoiding cancer altogether,” Grandy said.
Cervical cancer is abnormal cells that progress to become more invasive and cancerous.
Grandy says it all starts with human papillomavirus or HPV.
This causes “abnormal cells that are very slow growing and can become aggressive if not treated.”
“The human papillomavirus is a sexually transmitted infection. So if you’ve ever had sexual intercourse, that’s a risk factor,” she said.
Grandy says she would want to see you more closely if your pap smear results come back abnormal.
“We’d have a closer interval follow-up depending on the gradation of the abnormal cell, on the Pap smear finding.”
She says depending on the abnormal, you may need a colposcopy which is a closer look at your cervix using a microscope and a little bit of acid, like vinegar.
“It just makes the little lesions that are there pop out so that we can biopsy them,” she said.
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If your abnormality comes back with a high-grade lesion, she would recommend a LEEP procedure.
“The LEEP procedure is done in the operating room, and it’s a very thin slice that’s taken off of the cervix to kind of remove all of those abnormalities and then give a nice, fresh, clean slate,” Grandy said.
She says this will usually help women heal from abnormalities on the cervix and avoid cancer.
According to Grandy, if she detects it’s an advanced cancer, a hysterectomy or radiation would be required.
She says she will refer you to an oncologist instead.
HPV can also be passed from one person to another by skin-to-skin contact according to Grandy.
And even people who have never had sex before have sometimes tested positive.
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“Men are actually not able to be tested for the human papillomavirus, but they are able to carry it and spread it,” Grandy said.
Grandy says HPV can not only lead to cervical cancer but also uncomfortable conditions such as warts on the genitals which can affect both genders.
To reduce the risk of developing cervical cancer, Grandy says to practice safe intercourse and get the HPV vaccine.
“Children are able to get immunized from the ages of like nine through 14 and on up through adulthood,” she said.
Grandy says women may not even notice dangerous cells in their cervix which is why early detection is important.
“By the time we get to abnormal vaginal bleeding, the cells may be so advanced that we’ve gotten into a more invasive cancer where the treatment is less simple.”
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