What are the results after cervical screening?

It is very necessary to go to the hospital regularly for cervical examinations, because in modern society more and more women have suffered from cervical diseases, and if cervical diseases are not treated in time, they may develop into uterine cancer. Among them, cervical screening is an effective means to screen whether a woman has cancer in her uterus. So under normal circumstances, what are the possible results after a woman completes cervical screening?

Carcinoma in situ of cervix

When severe atypical hyperplasia develops further, the proliferating atypical cells occupy the entire thickness of the epithelium, which is carcinoma in situ. In other words, when the cervix is ​​carcinoma in situ, the entire layer of the local mucosal epithelium becomes cancerous, but has not yet broken through the basement membrane of the epithelium to infiltrate and invade the tissues underneath.

Cervical cancer

The tissue occurrence of cervical cancer can come from the basal cells or reserve cells of the cervical mucosa. About 80% to 95% of cervical cancers are squamous cell carcinomas, 5% are adenocarcinomas, and other types are rare.

Squamous cell carcinoma of the cervix

According to the development process of cancer, it can be divided into early invasive cancer and invasive cancer.

Early invasive cancer (microinvasive squamous cell carcinoma): On the basis of carcinoma in situ, a small number of cancer cells break through the basement membrane and infiltrate into the stroma below the basement membrane. The depth of invasion does not exceed 5 mm below the basement membrane, the width does not exceed 7 mm, and there is no lymph node metastasis. This type of patients usually have no obvious clinical symptoms.

Invasive squamous cell carcinoma: Cancer cells break through the basement membrane and significantly infiltrate the interstitium, with the depth of infiltration exceeding 5 mm below the basement membrane. This type of patient often has more obvious clinical symptoms.

Under the microscope, cancer cells are divided into three types according to the degree of differentiation: high, medium, and low. Highly differentiated tumors are less malignant but less sensitive to radiation. Poorly differentiated tumors are more malignant but more sensitive to radiation.

According to the examination results introduced above, we can see that the formation process of most cervical cancers goes through the development process from normal cervical epithelium → squamous epithelium atypical hyperplasia → carcinoma in situ → invasive cancer. It should be noted that not all invasive cervical cancers must go through this process, and not all epithelial atypical hyperplasias will necessarily develop into cervical cancer.

Most mild atypical hyperplasias can regress spontaneously, and less than 2% eventually develop into invasive cancer. As the grade of atypical hyperplasia increases, the chance of developing invasive cancer also increases. At least 20% of severe atypical hyperplasia will develop into invasive cancer within ten years. Some atypical hyperplasia may persist for a long time and not necessarily develop into cancer. Regular gynecological examinations, early detection of precancerous lesions, and timely treatment are the best ways to prevent cervical cancer.