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How is cervical cancer treated?
If you are diagnosed with cervical cancer, your physician(s) will discuss the best treatments with you.
Treatment options depend on the following:
Your desire to have children.
Treatment typically involves one or more of the following:
- Surgery to remove the uterus (hysterectomy). However, for young women with small tumors, minimally invasive surgery that preserves the ability to have children may be an option. This procedure is called "radical vaginal trachelectomy with laparoscopic pelvic lymphadenectomy."
- Radiation therapy, in which high-energy x-rays or other types of radiation are used to kill the cancer cells. Radiation therapy can be delivered using a machine positioned outside the body to bombard the cancer, or through a radioactive substance sealed in a wire, catheter or other device and then placed in the body in or near the cancerous area.
- Chemotherapy, which uses drugs to stop the growth of cancer cells. Chemotherapy can be taken by mouth, or injected into a vein, muscle, spinal column, organ or body cavity.
Note that if a woman is pregnant when diagnosed with cervical cancer, the treatment will depend on the stage of the cancer and of the pregnancy. For cervical cancer found in its early stages, or for cancer diagnosed during the last trimester of pregnancy, treatment may be delayed until after the baby is born.