Cancer: How to detect it
October is cancer awareness month, that’s why at Creafam we have created this series of videos with everything you need to know about cancer.
In this second video, Dr. Carlos Cortés, an oncologist surgeon, explains how we detected it during #VitalThursdays at Creafam
About #VitalThursday
In October 2020, every Thursday is #VitalThursday, which means that the gynecological consultation includes, free of charge, a pap smear, breast examination, and thyroid examination. And we do this because we intend to detect or help prevent the three main types of cancer that affect Mexican women: breast cancer, thyroid cancer, and cervical cancer.
Papilloma virus and cervical cancer
Cervical cancer is mainly associated with human papillomavirus infection and how can we detect it? Well, by performing a pap smear. The human papillomavirus is a microorganism that is transmitted only through sexual contact, so that since a person begins their sexual life, they have a high chance of having contact with this virus and it has been related in almost 100% of the cases with the virus. cervical cancer it is important to emphasize that the human papillomavirus can be transmitted sexually despite using condoms one of the myths that has been heard is that the human papillomavirus gives or affects people who have many sexual partners, that is , to people who are promiscuous, however, it is also important to emphasize that even if we have only one stable partner or two sexual partners in our entire lives, we can have contact with this virus.
HPV infection affects both men and women, of course, women are manifested more (as cancer) than men, but it affects us both. The most common form of manifestation of infection by human papilloma virus are warts on the genitals, of course, which can be more noticeable in men because the genitals are external and less noticeable in women because their genitals are internal. If one of you has been diagnosed with or identified with human papillomavirus lesions, it is important that her partner also undergo tests. So, we already discussed the association of HPV with cervical cancer, but there is another risk factor that is smoking, that is, smoking is a very important risk factor for generating cervical cancer.
At Creafam, to detect cervical cancer, we perform the papanicolaou test and a molecular test to search for HPV and with this identify patients who are at risk. What is a papanicolaou? It is a study that consists of taking a direct sample from the cervix, it is sent to the laboratory and in the course of approximately a week we have results. A molecular test can be added at the same time the sample is taken, this will take longer, approximately three weeks to give us a result.
The advantage of adding a molecular test is that we can identify if our patient is associated with the Human Papilloma Virus and what type of HPV is present if it is high risk or low risk and with that place more emphasis on screening our patients During #VitalThursday, in addition to doing a Pap smear, we also do a breast examination and a neck examination to identify thyroid disorders. If the health professional who is with you identifies any abnormalities, they will suggest that you have a complementary study to rule out major problems. .
After the study
In most cases we will find that everything is fine when the opposite happens and we detect some alteration in Creafam, we can carry out the necessary studies, being sure that we will be accompanying them in each step of this process.
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Subspecialty in Oncological Surgery.
Oncology Hospital National Medical Center “Siglo XXI”