Abstract
Cervical cancer is the most common cancer affecting women in developing countries and the fourth most common type of malignancy affecting women worldwide, with almost half a million cases diagnosed each year. The median age at diagnosis of cervical cancer patients is 49 years. Persistent human papillomavirus (HPV) infection is the most important factor influencing the development of cervical cancer. According to previous research, the prevalence rate of HPV is >99%. Cervical cancer progresses slowly from cervical intraepithelial neoplasia to invasive cancer. Thus, screening asymptomatic women with Papanicolaou cytological smears allows preinvasive disease to be diagnosed. Although widespread screening has significantly reduced the impact of cervical cancer on women in industrialized countries, such screening is not performed routinely in less developed countries, where most patients present with advanced disease and cervical cancer remains a leading cause of cancer death in women. This chapter outlines some general information that clinicians need to know in order to understand and manage uterine cervical cancer.
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Mabuchi, S., Kawano, M., Matsumoto, Y., Kimura, T. (2023). Cervical Cancer: General Overview. In: Shoupe, D. (eds) Handbook of Gynecology. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-14881-1_36
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-14881-1_36
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