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WEST VALLEY VIEW NEWS | JANUARY 26, 2022
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Doctor: Cervical cancer can be prevented BY ANNIKA TOMLIN
West Valley View Staff Writer
C
ervical cancer was formerly the No. 1 cause of cancer deaths for women. Now it’s one of the most preventable, according to Dr. Dennis Scribner, a gynecologic oncologist at Cancer Treatment Centers of America in Goodyear. He chalked this up to pap smear screenings and the HPV vaccine. “We understood that cervical cancer, for the most part, is an HPV, human papillomavirus-driven cancer,” Scribner said. “It’s one of the known cancers that we can actually pinpoint an actual etiology.” Medical experts recommend two HPV vaccinations for adolescent girls and boys between the ages of 10 to 12. “The risk of developing HPV related diseases based on getting the vaccine and routine screenings is dramatically reduced,” he said. “You want to catch the young adults before they become sexually active. That way, when they are exposed to the HPV virus, they are going to have antibodies in their system that are going to fight the infection and not allow it to cause these carcinogenic changes.” Carcinogenic changes refer to the
HPV virus becoming cancerous. “Why would boys take it? Boys would take it to not only prevent penile cancer and scrotal cancer, but it’s got a component of protecting them from genital warts, too. It’s been proven to be super effective.” There are “about 100 different strains” of HPV, according to Scribner, although the majority do not cause cancer. In fact, “half of those strains are actually something that you can visibly see that is called genital warts.” He said that genital warts can be prevented by the vaccine as well as “barrier methods” such as condoms. The HPV strains that do cause cancer, HPV 16 and 18, are not preventable using barrier methods. According to Scribner, “every woman and man who is sexually active will be exposed to this virus.” That is not to say that the strain that a person receives is automatically a cancerous strain. “The vaccine came out in 2016,” Scribner said. “When you look at the vaccine compliance rates, unfortunately 50% of young adolescents are not getting the vaccine in the United States. Overall, 1 out of 3 women are not getting the vaccine to protect themselves from the virus.” He said not all vaccines are free or
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Dr. Dennis Scribner says regular pap smears can lesson the number of cervical cancer deaths. (Photo submitted)
easily accessible to the general population, which is a problem. “When you look at the World Health Organization data — which is the entire world — on cervical cancer, it is still a very huge problem,” Scriber said. “It’s the fourth leading
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cause of cancer in women. It’s still a big issue.” Cervical cancer is still an issue because of the significant racial and ethnic disparities in the United States.
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