Vaginal Cancer - Treatment And It's Symptoms

Definition

Vaginal cancer accounts for approximately 2% of all gynecologic cancers. It usually appears as squamous cell carcinoma but occasionally as melanoma, sarcoma, or adenocarcinoma. Primary tumors of the vagina, however, are rare because most vaginal tumors spread from the cervix or the endometrium. This cancer generally occurs in women in their early to mid50s, particularly when the tumor is squamous cell carcinoma. Some of the rarer types (such as clear cell adenocarcinoma) occur in younger women in their late teens to early 20s and are related to mothers who took diethylstilbestrol during pregnancy. Another type of vaginal cancer, rhabdomyosarcoma, appears in children.

Causes of Vaginal Cancer

The exact cause of vaginal cancer remains unknown, but it's thought to be triggered by genital viruses or chronic irritation. Other risk factors include hysterectomy and previous radiation therapy for cancer of the cervix or the rectum.

Vaginal cancer varies in severity according to its location and effect on lymphatic drainage. Similar to cervical cancer, vaginal cancer may progress from an intraepithelial tumor to an invasive cancer. However, it spreads more slowly than cervical cancer. A lesion in the upper third of the vagina usually metastasizes to the groin nodes; a lesion in the lower third usually metastasizes to the hypogastric and iliacnodes; but a lesion in the middle third metastasizes erratically. A posterior lesion displaces and distends the vaginal posterior wall before spreading to deep layers. By contrast, an anterior lesion spreads more rapidly into other structures and deep layers because, unlike the posterior wall, the anterior vaginal wall isn't flexible.

Other types of vaginal cancer include:

• Malignant melanoma
• Leiomyosarcoma
• Rhabdomyosarcoma

Symptoms of Vaginal Cancer

The most common symptoms of vaginal cancer are abnormal vaginal bleeding and discharge. The patient may also experience:

• Bleeding and pelvic or vaginal pain after sexual intercourse. Also, she may have a small or large mass in any part of the vagina. As the cancer progresses, then symptoms may include:
• It commonly spreads to the bladder
• The rectum (bleeding)
• Vulva (lesion)
• Pubic bone (pain), or other surrounding tissues. Painful urination, constipation, and continuous pain in the pelvis may occur with advanced vaginal cancer.

Treatment of Vaginal Cancer

If you have this disease, then you should be use Possible treatment such as:

• Treatment aims to preserve the abnormal parts of the vagina. Topical chemotherapy with S-fluorouracil and laser surgery can be used for stages 0 and I.
• Radiation or surgery varies with the size, depth, and location of the lesion and the patient's desire to maintain a functional vagina. Preservation of a functional vagina is generally possible only in the early stages. Survival rates are the same for patients treated with radiation and those treated with surgery.
• Surgery is usually recommended only when the tumor is so extensive that exenteration is needed because close proximity to the bladder and rectum permits only minimal tissue margins around resected vaginal tissue.
• Radiation therapy is the preferred treatment of advanced vaginal cancer. Most patients need preliminary external radiation treatment to shrink the tumor before internal radiation can begin. Then, if the tumor is localized to the vault and the cervix is present, radiation can be given with an intrauterine tandem or ovoids; if the cervix is absent, a specially designed vaginal applicator is used instead.