Cervical Cancer

Cervical cancer usually develops slowly and over many years. Before turning into cancer, the cells in your cervix go through a lot of changes. The once normal cells in your cervix start to appear irregular or abnormal. These abnormal cells may go away, stay the same or turn into cancer cells.

Regular cervical cancer screenings with a Pap test can detect most cases of cervical cancer. The goal of cervical cancer screening is to detect cell changes on your cervix before they become cancer. A Pap test, or Pap smear, involves looking at cells from your cervix under a microscope. These cells are examined for signs of precancers or other irregularities.

If your Pap comes back as abnormal, further testing is necessary. This could include an HPV test, which is a specific test that checks the cells of your cervix for the HPV strains that are most likely to cause cancer.

Tests to diagnose cervical cancer

If your screenings come back as abnormal, your healthcare provider will want to run more tests to confirm you have cervical cancer. The first step in that is typically a colposcopy. A colposcope magnifies the cells of your cervix so your healthcare provider can see irregular cells. If the cells look suspicious or unusual, they’ll remove a sample of cervical cells and send them to a lab for further testing.

They can use any of the following methods to get a sample of tissue from your cervix:

• Punch biopsy: Your provider uses a cutting tool with a round top to cut out the precancerous cells.
• Endocervical curettage: A procedure that involves your provider scraping the lining of your cervix with a spoon-shaped tool called a curette.
• Loop electrosurgical excision procedure (LEEP): Your provider uses an electrical wire loop to remove the abnormal cervical tissue.
• Cone biopsy: Your provider removes a slightly larger, cone-shaped piece of tissue from your cervix.