Sometimes positive, sometimes negative, HPV repeated infection for 12 years eventually leads to cancer

Jimu news reporter Chen Lingyan

Correspondent Liu Wang

Cervical examination is done on time every year, and the HPV virus (human papillomavirus) switches back and forth between positive and negative, indicating that the infection is repeated. So 12 years later, 43-year-old Ms. Ma was diagnosed with cervical cancer, and she had to undergo hysterectomy to avoid the consequences. On January 1, 2022, Ms. Ma wrote in the circle of friends: "At the end of 2021, early cancer was luckily detected and surgery was carried out in Wuhan Sixth Hospital, and a new run was carried out in 2022. ”

Ms. Ma's family is in Houhu, and she underwent surgery 12 years ago due to a high-grade cervical lesion. For more than ten years after the operation, she had regular cervical examinations every year, and the HPV virus has been positive and negative repeatedly, but the TCT (cytology) examination has shown normal. Doctors had recommended a biopsy, but she didn't.

In mid-December 2021, Ms. Ma visited the Pain Department of Wuhan Sixth Hospital (Affiliated Hospital of Jianghan University) and saw that there was a cervical disease screening center in the outpatient clinic of the hospital, so she registered for consultation. Professor Zhang Fan, director of the gynecology department of the hospital, learned that Ms. Ma had HPV negative and positive reversals three times in 12 years, so she became vigilant. This time, Ms. Ma also followed Zhang Fan's advice and underwent a colposcopic biopsy.

The medical examination report showed that Ms. Ma suffered from cervical squamous cell carcinoma. Hearing that it was cancer, Ms. Ma was very scared. Zhang Fan was relieved that fortunately it was still an early cervical cancer foci, and there was still a chance of surgery, and she developed a surgery and follow-up antiviral treatment plan for her. Ms. Ma slowly calmed down and made an appointment to come for surgery on December 31, 2021.

On the same day, Zhang Fan led the team to successfully perform extensive total hysterectomy + lymph node dissection for Ms. Ma. On January 1, 2022, Ms. Ma will be able to get out of bed.

Zhang Fan reminded that women who are married or have sex should include cervical screening in the annual physical examination plan and must not be taken lightly. Like Ms. Ma, even if the cytology test is negative for more than ten years, there is still a risk of carcinogenesis due to repeated infection of human papillomavirus. After the operation, Ms. Ma also needs to continue antiviral therapy. Cervical cancer prevention screening, in addition to cervical HPV and TCT examination, should be combined with cervical colposcopy biopsy if necessary to timely pull out cervical lesions.