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How To Deal With Cervical Cancer Once Patient Gets Diagnosed In The Midst Of The COVID Pandemic?

How To Deal With Cervical Cancer Once Patient Gets Diagnosed In The Midst Of The COVID Pandemic?
How To Deal With Cervical Cancer Once Patient Gets Diagnosed In The Midst Of The Pandemic?

Since the COVID-19 outbreak, the healthcare system has been suffering. Cancer detection and treatment, particularly cervical cancer, have also been delayed. Here's how you should deal with it during the pandemic.

Written by Editorial Team |Updated : January 21, 2022 12:26 PM IST

India has been facing unprecedented demands on its healthcare system since the pandemic. This has led to delays in the diagnosis and treatment of cancer, including cervical cancer. Therefore, it is crucial to go for routine checks despite the pandemic as early detection can help save lives. Adhering to COVID norms and appropriate behaviour (wear a mask, sanitize or wash your hands thoroughly, maintain social distancing) is essential and will keep you safe during screening unless you are already contracted with COVID infection. However, if you are diagnosed with cervical cancer, it is important to find out the severity of cancer. Let's take a step back and look at what causes cervical cancer.

Causes Of Cervical Cancer

The human papillomavirus (HPV) is a very common virus that can cause cancer in some people. There are over 100 types of HPV, but at least 14 have been linked with causing cervical cancer and pre-cancerous lesions on the body. This is a potentially curable illness if detected early. If the disease gets treated in the earlier stages, then there will be more chances of survival of the patient.

Major risk factors

Some of the major risk factors that might increase the chances of developing cervical cancer are:

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  1. Human papillomavirus (HPV) infection
  2. Multiple sexual partners
  3. Smoking
  4. Weekend Immune System

How Is It Diagnosed?

Diagnosis: In order to diagnose cervical cancer, a routine Pap smear screening is done. Depending upon the results of the Pap smear screening, a colposcopic directed cervical biopsy is suggested.

Staging of cancer: Cervical cancer staging is done by clinical examination. In order to determine the spread of cancer, imaging tests like X-Ray, CT, MRI, etc are conducted to check if cancer has spread beyond the cervix. If the patient is COVID positive, then these tests are postponed until the patient is free from COVID. Being COVID positive will not impact the results of the tests and the doctor can determine the stage of cancer.

Treatment And Prevention

Treatment of cervical cancer: Cervical cancer treatment begins with early detection. When detected in the early stages before it has progressed too far, cervical cancer may be treated through surgery with the combination of radiation therapy or chemotherapy depending on the severity or stage of cancer. In case the patient has to undergo surgery, it is important to test for COVID. The surgery will be deferred if the patient is COVID positive.

The chemotherapy and radiation therapy is deferred if the patient is COVID positive in view of adverse effects.

Cervical cancer care can be improved by availing treatment from tertiary centres wherein a comprehensive team who specialize in all aspects of treatment for both cancer and COVID are available under the same roof. This will help in creating an optimized treatment plan. At the same time, if the patient turns out to be COVID-19 positive then the right treatment for COVID 19 will be available immediately in the same centre.

Prevention: One of the best ways to protect oneself from cervical cancer is to get vaccinations at the earliest which can protect against HPV viruses that cause cervical cancer. Routine screening with pap smear should be done. Avoiding high-risk behaviour like smoking or having multiple sexual partners helps in reducing the risk of contracting HPV infection, hence reducing cervical cancer.

In conclusion, cervical cancer is a well-planned treatment and not an emergency procedure. Therefore, the pandemic should not cause any problems as the treatment can be deferred for some time. But regular screenings should not be delayed as early detection can save lives.

(The article is contributed byD r Nirmala Chandrashekar, Consultant, OBG & Gynaecology, Gynaec Oncology at BGS Gleneagles Global Hospital)