Vaginal Cancer

What is vaginal cancer?

It is the cancer of the vagina, which malignant cells found in the tissue of vagina. It is a rare cancer that accounting for about two to three percent of female reproductive cancers. It was estimated that in the year 2011, about 2,570 new cases of vaginal cancer would be diagnosed in the U. S. and 780 women would die of this cancer.
What are the risks factor of having a vaginal cancer?
The common factors that may increase women’s chances the risk of developing vaginal cancer are age, over two thirds of women who are 60 years old or older when they diagnosed that they have vaginal cancer. Other risk factors include:
Smoking
Infection with HPV
HIV infection that can lead to AIDS which make our body weak or to lower our immune system to fight off some health problems.
Vaginal irritation or uterine prolapse
How to prevent vaginal cancer?
To prevent vaginal cancer, women should avoid the identified risk factors, such as:
smoking and have regular check up with your doctor. During your check up the doctor will do pelvic examination to look for a sign of vaginal cancer. The Pap smear does not screen for vaginal cancer, the only cancer that Pap smear screens is cervical cancer.
Observe safe sex by using condoms and avoid multiple sex partners.
Get HPV vaccine

What are the signs and symptoms?

The following are the most common symptoms of vaginal cancer:
Abnormal vaginal bleeding ( mostly after intercourse), such as bleeding after you have gone through menopause, bleeding after periods, or any other bleeding that is longer or heavier than is normal for you.
Change of bathroom habits such as; blood in the urine or stool, going to the bathroom ,more often than usual or feeling constipated.
Abnormal vaginal discharge
A mass that can be felt
Pain during intercourse
Painful urination, constipation and continuous pelvic pain are symptoms of advanced vaginal cancer.
How to treat vaginal cancer?:
Radiation therapy is the preferred method of treatment for most cancer of vagina. Surgery in the form of laser surgery or local or local excision can remove pre- cancerous cells. Radical vaginectomy or radical hysterectomy with removal of lymph nodes is reserved for upper vaginal cancers. Chemotherapy is only used in advanced cases in combination with radiation therapy or for recurrent disease.