After receiving the HPV vaccine, the woman thought she was relieved, until she recently had irregular bleeding and went for a check-up, and cervical cancer was detected. "Fortunately, the surgery was done in time, otherwise the consequences would have been unimaginable. On the 20th, before being discharged from the hospital, Ms. Feng, who lives on Huancheng South Road in Xiangyang, repeatedly expressed her gratitude to the medical staff of the first team of Wuhan Sixth Hospital (Affiliated Hospital of Jianghan University).
Three years ago, Ms. Feng received the HPV vaccine in a foreign country and did not have cervical screening after that. Last month, she suddenly had irregular bleeding and went to the hospital to test and showed that she was HPV high-risk positive, and then took a biopsy to confirm that it was precancerous. After getting the results, Ms. Feng was stunned: she had already been vaccinated against cervical cancer, why did she get hit?
Through relatives in Wuhan, Ms. Feng got in touch with Professor Li Shuang of Wuhan Tongji Hospital, a cervical disease specialist who was working at Wuhan Sixth Hospital. After receiving the consultation, Li Shuang performed leep surgery for Ms. Feng, and the examination showed that it was a small focal invasive carcinoma with vascular invasion, indicating the risk of metastasis. She decisively went one step further and performed surgery for cervical cancer**. Li Shuang said that if Ms. Feng is not detected and intervened in time, the risk of cancer metastasis is very high. Not to mention the high difficulty at that time, the prognosis is not optimistic. After receiving ** surgery, Ms. Feng only needs regular follow-up visits.
Li Shuang told reporters that it was found that many women thought that as long as they were vaccinated against HPV, they would be able to do it once and for all. "Just because you're vaccinated against HPV doesn't mean you won't get cervical cancer. Li Shuang emphasized that the HPV vaccine is only a preventive vaccination, which can indeed greatly reduce the occurrence of cervical cancer. However, there is currently no HPV vaccine that can 100% prevent all types of HPV infection, and even the 9-valent HPV vaccine can only cover about 92% of the oncogenic types. Many women are already infected with high-risk HPV viruses at the time of vaccination, and there is still a chance of cervical cancer.
Li Shuang pointed out that as long as women have had sex, cervical cancer screening should be included in the physical examination plan. Even if you have been vaccinated against HPV, you should still have regular cervical "HPV+TCT" screening like a normal woman. Once symptoms such as irregular bleeding or contact bleeding appear, it is necessary to be alert to the possibility of cervical lesions and go to a specialist in time.
Li Shuang said that HPV vaccination and cervical cancer screening are two indispensable links in the prevention of cervical cancer. For young girls, vaccination makes more sense; For adult women, both vaccinations and regular screenings are important. If both HPV and cervical cytology TCT tests are negative, they can be checked every 3 years. For patients with symptoms such as abnormal discharge and contact bleeding, even if the screening is negative, they should go to a regular hospital for examination to avoid missing the rare non-HPV-related cervical cancer. (Reporter Liu Xuan, correspondent Liu Wang).
*: Wuhan Evening News.