The Different Types of Cervical Cancer

Ask Our Doc Q & A at Women's Healthcare Topics

Treating cervical cancer depends on the stage at which a doctor identifies the condition. The outcome of the patient relates to how far along the disease has progressed, or how many years a patient has had cancer. Regular screening in recent years has decreased the number of women diagnosed with advanced stage cervical cancer, thus improving their outcome.

Squamous cell carcinomas – squamous cell carcinomas or SCCs make up roughly 80 percent of cervical cancer.

Adenocarcinomas – adenocarcinomas make up 15 percent of cervical cancers in women.

Adenosquamous carcinomas – adenosquamous carcinomas make up the smallest percentage, typically up to 5 percent of cervical cancer in women. This cancer is the most deadly, often associated with a decreased likelihood for survival.

Symptoms of Cervical Cancer
Most women with cervical cancer will not have any symptoms initially, which is why cervical cancer is difficult to detect without regular screening. The most common symptoms women with cervical cancer experience include:

Abnormal vaginal bleeding.

Bleeding after intercourse.

Vaginal discharge that has a strong odor, is watery or full of mucous.

Pelvic or lower back pain that radiates down the leg.

Sometimes doctors misinterpret the vaginal discharge excreted by women with cervical cancer for other conditions including cervicitis.

Cervical cancer usually develops in the lining of the cervix. It is a disease that progresses over time. Cervical cancer develops
when the cells of the cervix undergo changes, first becoming precancerous then cancerous. The changes that lead up to developing cervical cancer are cervical intraepithelial neoplasia or CIN. Doctors can classify CIN in stages, low-grade for example vs. high-grade. A low-grade CIN is a much less serious condition that high-grade CIN, which suggests that a greater number of cervical changes have occurred in the cervical cells.

CIN isn’t in and of itself cancerous, however it can change and develop into a squamous intraepithelial lesion or SIL, which is the condition that precedes cervical cancer. It can also develop into a form of cervical cancer that stays within the epithelial membrane of the cervix.

Doctors also classify SIL like CIN in stages, with SIL potentially progressing into invasive cervical cancer.