Hello, my 40-year-old sister has had problems with her period for 10 years. There is no period for 2 months. The gynecologist in charge of it said that the ultrasound was good, he did a cytology (no results yet) and ordered basic tests of the thyroid gland to be done, and if everything was fine, an appointment for a curettage procedure was inevitable. Blood and thyroid results were normal, CA-125 marker also normal (not on doctor's recommendation). Please tell me what tests can be done to otherwise get an answer without surgery, is there something disturbing going on and does the marker result exclude cancer? Do you have to repeat the treatment to monitor what is happening? If the cytology is okay, do not decide to undergo the procedure, but change the diet (he is overweight), take care of more physical exercise and the body can cope with itself, because the problem may be elsewhere, e.g. pancreas or too thick blood (when collecting was very dark). We are still waiting for the ultrasound of the abdominal cavity.
The highest reliability in the diagnosis of cervical cancer can be offered by the so-called double test (co-test) - cytological test performed together with the molecular test of hr-HPV DNA. Cytological examination can determine whether the material under examination shows any cellular changes indicating the development of the neoplasm. Cervical cancer in 99.7% of cases is caused by a chronic infection with HPV (human papillomavirusHuman papillomavirus ). Performing a diagnostic test for hr-HPV DNA (DNA of 14 types of HPV virus at high risk of developing cervical cancer) may in turn determine whether your sister is at risk of developing this disease. A negative DNA test result would indicate minimal risk. It is essential that the selected hr-HPV DNA test be clinically validated. The most convenient form of performing a co-test is a single collection of biological material on the LBC liquid medium and carrying out both tests.
Remember that our expert's answer is informative and will not replace a visit to the doctor.
dr n. biol. Paweł WeberA graduate of the University of Wrocław and the Jagiellonian University in Kraków. Since 2010, she has been working at Becton Dickinson (BD) as a specialist for Central and Eastern Europe for modern diagnostic methods WomanHe alth & Cancer. He conducted lectures on the diagnosis of cervical cancer for students of the Medical University of Warsaw, midwives, participants of the conference of the National Chamber of Laboratory Diagnosticians and the Polish Society of Pathologists.
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