It's quite a revelation to hear that cervical cancer could largely be prevented by newer technology, but that is what a medical pro from the National Cancer Institute said recently.

If we're better at understanding what causes cervical cancer (and other cancers), medical technology sure is not showing it yet, as cervical cancer is still the second most common cancer afflicting women worldwide. I truly hope there is a breakthrough on the horizon, though.

But the difference here is that most cases of cervical cancer are caused by the human papillomavirus, not a genetic predisposition or a combination of environmental factors.

A test using the key ingredient in vinegar, acetic acid, a speculum and a bright light, could aid in the detection of cervical cancer in poor countries, according to a study published in Lancet.

The trial was conducted in India. The researchers, led by Rengaswamy Sankaranarayanan, tested over 31,000 women. 3,088 women were screen positive and went on to further testing, turning up 1,874 cases of precancerous lesions. The women who were screened were 25% less likely to develop cervical cancer and 35% less likely to die from it.

This test was developed at Johns Hopkins and could be an effective screening tool as the pap smear as well as the new HPV vaccines are too expensive for many countries.

Talk about an oxymoron: U.S. researchers have stated that they're using tobacco plants to derive a drug to prevent cervical cancer. Sounds odd, huh?

Since cervical cancer is caused by diseases that are transmitted by sexual activity (a virus), finding a "vaccine" would go a long way in some countries to decreasing the numbers of females who contract this particular type of cancer.

This tobacco-based vaccine would be used in India initially, according to scientists. Right now, there is no information on which other countries would have a possible drug coming their way based on the tobacco plant.

Pap smears are used to detect cancer or abnormal cells on the cervix and are recommended every three years for women age 18 - 64.

Unfortunately, according to a recent report from the Agency for Health Research and Quality, which is part of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, over 14 percent of American women age 18-64 have not had a Pap smear in the past three years. Asian women were least likely to have received a Pap smear in the past three years.

Insured status also plays a role. Women without healthcare insurance were much more likely to not have had a Pap smear in the past three years; 25 percent of this group had not been screened versus 11 percent of women covered by private insurance and 15 percent of those on some form of public insurance.

Women who were less educated were also less likely to have had a Pap smear in the past three years as were single women when compared to their married counterparts.

There are so many cancers that are difficult to detect in the early stages and for which no widespread screening programs exist. These cancers are often discovered in the late-stage, when there is no cure. In contrast, Pap smear screening reduces both the incidence and mortality from cervical cancer and is simple and relatively inexpensive. Hopefully, as our country continues to grapple with our healthcare access crisis, we can find a way to for more women to get screened for this preventable cancer.

It's been proven that cervical cancer has a significant connection with unprotected sex and STDs, particularly HPV. So is issuing a drug proven to prevent HPV to school-age girls a way to help them protect themselves from cancer? Or is it, as the Christian Voice in Britain believes, the equivalent to calling all school-age girls promiscuous, in turn suggesting that they are not morally intelligent enough to abstain from sex until marriage?

This debate has arisen in the UK in response to a call from a group called Jo's Trust to vaccinate school-age girls against HPV with a drug called Gardasil, which has been shown to protect against HPV 100%. Stephen Green of the Christian Voice has this to say about it:

The message is one of despair, disrespect and low expectations. Anyone giving this drug to a girl is telling her: "I think you are a slag". But it is also irresponsible and will raise promiscuity, teenage pregnancy and, worst of all, infertility. Young women will be thinking they have more protection than they actually have.

What are your thoughts on this? Is a nation-wide vaccination a good idea?

Cervarix, an experimental cervical cancer vaccine made by British pharmaceutical firm GlaxoSmithKline, had somewhat of an important public milestone this week, as The Lancet published information on the vaccine being 90 percent effective in preventing precancerous cervical lesions.

These results do indeed confirm previous data on the effectiveness of Cervarix, and as such, the stage is set for the vaccine to become a big hit with cervical cancer sufferers and women who have just been diagnosed.

Australia has already approved Cervarix, and expected approval for Europe is slated to happen this year in the second half. For a U.S. release, we'll have to wait until sometime in 2008. That is, if is is approved here.

In Victoria, Canada, cervical cancer survivor Christine Evely is urging women to have pap tests twice a year. I have to admit that I haven't heard before that two pap tests per year are recommended. But as part of a Mother's Day initiative called Don't Just Sit There. Last year, the radio and ad campaign was a terrific success, with over 8000 extra pap tests completed. The ad campaign is being re-run this year with similar high hopes.

Cervical cancer can not only render women infertile, but it can also kill. A friend of mine from high school survived cervical cancer, and another friend of mine is currently dealing with an abnormal pap test. I had an abnormal pap test thirteen years ago, before I got pregnant with my first child. Since that time, I have only missed my pap test one year. It's a simple test, that can make a huge difference.

A simple $50 Pap smear test has reduced the U.S.cervical cancer death rate by 75 percent in recent years. The test detects precancerous cells in time to prevent full blown cancer from forming, or if the cancer is already present it can usually be cured. The above statements are true for a certain segment of the population. But, sadly, they do not apply to many of the poor and minority populations of our country. This largely preventable disease will kill over 4,000 women this year alone, a majority of them live in poverty and will be black women in the South, Hispanics living along the Texas-Mexico border, older white women in Appalachia and the rural Northeast and Vietnamese immigrants.

For a test that is simple to administer and relatively inexpensive, this information is scandalous. Currently a $25 million dollar cervical cancer awareness program is being implemented to help reach minorities and women living in poverty. The program seeks to recruit volunteers in communities that understand the needs of local women or who speak their language. The hope is that by having a person they can trust, these women will be more willing to seek medical attention.

According to Greystone Associates, a medical and healthcare technology consulting firm providing services in strategic planning, venture development, product commercialization, and technology assessment - is addressing the possible challenges facing cancer vaccines coming to market in the statement, "In spite of the market hype and wishful thinking, the results of clinical trials for cancer vaccines to date have been mixed and often disappointing. While the challenge of creating and successfully proving the efficacy of a vaccine that can effectively treat America's second-deadliest disease is perhaps without medical precedent, a close look at the dynamics and regulatory environment of the clinical trial process provides insight into possible reasons why the first approvable, truly therapeutic cancer vaccine may still be years away." Seems the first problem is proving the efficiency of cancer vaccines in clinical trails, given results that can not be measured with true analytical accuracy or precision among patients. The second problem appears to be governmental and corporate.
 
"Cancer vaccines are playing by rules which in some ways place them at a distinct disadvantage relative to the therapeutic value they have been designed to deliver," explains George Perros, Greystone Associates Managing Director. "These issues, which will require a strong working relationship between vaccine developers and key FDA and NCI decision makers to resolve, must be addressed if the promise of cancer vaccines is to be fully realized."

I am not the least bit interested in easing the way for companies in a rush to get drugs to market so they can enhance their financial bottom line. I want drugs that make it to market to be thoroughly tested and proven safe. But I will be aggravated to learn that there are factors slowing the process that could have been avoided.

Lifesite is reporting that Saskatoon Wanuskewin Maurice Vellacott, MP in Ottowa, is publicly asking why the Canadian Cancer Society is not reporting information about the link between hormonal contraception and cancer, and asking what other information the organization may be failing to report.

Vellacott said, “If the Canadian Cancer Society is not telling Canadians the truth about the birth control pill’s link to breast cancer, what else is the Canadian Cancer Society withholding?” Three years ago, researchers found a cervical cancer link to birth control pill use. Last year, the World Health Organization, WHO, said that the birth control pill is carcinogenic and linked to increases in cervical, liver and breast cancer.

In 2003, UK Cancer Research in Oxford epidemiology researchers reviewed 28 studies covering 12,500 women. The results of the study indicated the longer a woman took the pill, the greater her risk of developing cervical cancer. Dr. Gavin Jarvis, with Oxford's Department of Pharmacology, said hormonal contraception is a cocktail of steroids influencing the behavior of every cell in a woman's body. Vellacott wants to know why this information is not made available by an organization structured to represent the best health interests of its citizens.

There is some good news for cancer survivors in terms of fertility possibilities. Current;y about ten percent of all cancer patients are under the age of 45, this translates into 140,000 new cases per year.  Cancer survivors are living longer and expecting more from their lives, fertility dreams being on that list. In reaction to this, many doctors are offering more fertility options to their patients before beginning treatment. Among the choices currently available, doctors now offer the option for men to bank sperm. Couples can freeze embryos for future use. Some clinical centers even allow girls and women to freeze slices of ovarian tissue, which doctors re-implant after patients complete their cancer treatment. Yet another treatment involves a modified surgery for cervical cancer patients. Previously, doctors routinely performed full hysterectomies to ensure the safety and survival for cervical cancer victims. A new approach, called a trachelectomy, removes the cervix and nearby lymph nodes but leaves the uterus in place. Thus far the trachelectomies have been shown to be as effective as the traditional hysterectomies. The surgery is still in the earlier stages and is not without risks. Women with trachelectomies tend to develop scar tissue and have trouble with conception, making fertilization therapy a necessity. Pregnancies for women who have had the surgery are considered to be high risk, but for those who have been able to bear children after surviving cancer the risks are well worth the efforts.

Almost twenty years ago, Sharon Van Meter was diagnosed with stomach cancer. Then she found a tumor behind her ear that was treated with an experimental radio frequency to shrink the tumor. In 2002, Van Meter was diagnosed with ovarian and cervical cancer. Van Meter, a three-time cancer survivor, whose cancer experiences have inspired her to donate her time to charity events benefiting hospice organizations who care for cancer patients, travels the country cooking first class meals to raise funds.

As a child, Van Meter was a gymnast who trained to join the 1972 Olympic team. After that, she went on to become the first woman to graduate from Le Cordon Bleu in Paris, a professional culinary school. According to the Baxter Bulletin feature article about Van Meter, she says her parents were originally against her career choice. Her father wanted her to follow in his footsteps as a lawyer. "It was 1973, I didn't speak French and I ended up at this school with 573 boys," she said. "I cried for the first three months I was there." Van Meter said she passed the time by sending telegrams and calling home. She complained to her mother that the school didn't even have a bathroom for her so she had to stand up like the men. "She sent me a telegram, which I still have today, that said, 'I love you very much. Learn to stand,''" Van Meter said. "That's when the girl in me quit crying and the athlete in me came out to compete." Van Meter faces cancer in much the same way as she has with all of her life endeavors, as an athlete, pressing forward and forging her own path.
Photo credit: Kevin Pieper

Dartmouth Medical School researchers have discovered that the same human papillomavirus, HPV, which has been linked to cervical cancer, is also linked to skin cancer. "Although sun exposure and sun sensitivity are the major risk factors for skin cancers, our data support a role of HPV, particularly beta HPV, in the development of squamous cell carcinoma," states Dr. Margaret Karagas, of Dartmouth Medical School’s Norris Cotton Cancer Center.

New technology based on fluorescent bead technology that can detect viral antibodies allowed researchers to identify the virus in skin cancer samples. To investigate all the possibilities contributing to the development of skin cancer, researchers conducted one-on-one interviews with the study participants about lifestyle habits, such as drinking and smoking, medical and family history, their usual level of sun exposure and their skin’s sensitivity to sun. When this information was compiled and analyzed, the researchers still found an association between HPV and squamous skin cancer.

There is a bridge from this world to the next, from the physical to the spiritual realms, that philosophers and poets cross over easily, and return again, with just as much ease. What they bring back are concepts and thoughts to nourish the hungry soul. Shelly, a cervical cancer survivor fighting a recurrence of cervical cancer, who blogs Accidental Runner, is both philosopher and poet blogging about hope, time and love.
 
"The Internet is this wonderful thing, full of information, opportunity and people. We reach out and find commonality that crosses continents, cultural and age differences. We make new friends, find support in our darkest moments, and sometimes, we find love. So the Internet has bred this whole group of wanderers - modern nomads and gypsies willing to take a chance on love. It seems implausible to those who have never experienced this. How can anyone possibly *love* someone they’ve never met? It sounds rather ridiculous, doesn’t it?" No, it does not sound ridiculous at all.

From MSN Spaces, Accidental Runner has a new home, a place of its own. From where Accidental Runner began last year, Shelly decided to take up running for her health. Her goal became the Richmond Marathon, but her health prevented that from happening. She is no longer running at all now, as her health will not permit it. Shelly invites you to walk with her instead, and talk with her in her new blog home. I say listen. Many run a marathon. Shelly can cross the invisible bridge connecting two worlds, and what she has to share can take the soul a thousand miles in no time at all.

Last Friday a friend of mine asked me to accompany her while she went to a tattoo parlor to have her tattoo updated. It was a small, generic flower she had gotten a few years ago on a wild night in Las Vegas. The flower is located near her bikini line right next to a vertical scar that runs from her pubis bone past her bellybutton. At the age of 22, shortly after she was married, she was diagnosed with cervical cancer. She had a complete hysterectomy and a handful of lymph nodes removed: It saved her life. She and her husband have since adopted a fabulous boy and the three of them live a happy, American life. But her tattoo needed some work, and work we did. For over six hours we sat in the tattoo artist's home as the lonely flower blossomed from drab to a series of vine laden leaves with her husband's and son's initials entwined in the foliage. Six hours of  holding her hand, telling stories and an ever filled wine glass left us all a little wonky by the end of the evening. She made plans to extend the flowers and vines to eventually grow over and around her scar, not to hide it but to welcome it as a part of her life.

Since that experience I have begun researching stories about the significance of tattoos and cancer. There is an abundant supply out there, and I feel it worthy of an ongoing blurb during the month of March. I have dug up quite a few interesting one, but if any readers have some to share, please do so and we will post them.