Women still at risk of cervical cancer after treatment

Reported by Susan Aldridge, PhD, medical journalist

Women who have had cervical cancer treatment still remain at risk in the 20 years following.
In countries with organized cervical cancer screening programs, the death rate from this disease has dropped dramatically. But, as a study from Finland shows, this should not be a reason for complacency.

They looked at a group of over 7,500 women treated for pre-cancerous lesions of the cervix from 1974 to 2001. There were 448 new cases of cervical cancer discovered during follow up to 2003. This was 96 more cases than would have been expected in hte female population. Of the new cases, 22 were invasive cervical cancer. This shows that women are at more than average risk in the two decades after treatment. This is contrary to previous research which suggests the risk of cancer does not go up in the eight years after treatment. Nevertheless, the researchers say, the treatment does still save lives, for up to 39 per cent of cases would proceed to invasive cancer without the treatment.

Source
British Medical Journal 19th November 2005 Volume 331 pages 1183-1185