In a January 2015 study, the National Cancer Institute revealed that 40% of women do not have a smear regularly. However, it is an effective way to screen for Cervical cancer, which can be cured when treated in time. And according to a Danish scientific study published in the Clinical Gastroenterology and hepatology journal, the smear is all the more important for women with chronic inflammatory bowel disease, as they have a greater risk of cervical cancer.
Danish researchers followed more than 27,000 women from 1979 to 2011. Overall, their results reveal that women with chronic bowel disease (ulcerative colitis, Crohn’s disease) had a higher risk of dysplasia, a lesion cervix characterized by the presence of abnormal cells that may progress to cancer. In women with Crohn’s disease, the risk of cervical cancer would increase by nearly 30% compared to women without the cancer.
If the scientists are not yet certain about this correlation, they point the finger at biotherapies based on anti-TNF alpha to stop the inflammation.
Even though further research will need to support this work, it is fashionable to perform a screening smear every three years from the age of 25, whether or not you are vaccinated against the papillomavirus.
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Cervical cancer: 40% of women do not have a smear regularly
Cervical cancer: a hashtag to raise awareness about the smear
Crohn’s disease: a fecal transplant soon possible?
