The word cervical often confuses people with the term cervical cancer. Its not anything related to the cervical area of your back, that is mid back. Cervical cancer is something related to the ailment of cervix of a woman.

Cervix is the portion where the vagina and the uterus meet. The cervix near the uterus is called the endocervix and the portion near the vagina is called the ectocervix. The cancer occurs near this area where the uterus and the vagina meet. The growth of the cervical cancer is not sudden development, it slowly develops and the symptoms too are shown gradually.

The pre-cancer changes in the cervix are called by different names like-cervical intraepithelial neoplasia(CIN), dysplasia, and squamous intraepithelial lesion(SIL).

Basically the cancer is divided into two parts- adenocarcinoma and squamous cell carcinoma. The most common form of cancer is the squamous cell carcinomas which occurs in almost 80% of the women. The cells of the cancer that develop resemble the thin and flat cells called squamous cells covering edocervix surface. The Squamous cell carcinoma cancer begins at the juxtaposition of ectocervix and endocervix.

Adenocarcinomas has been becoming very common cancer in women recently and the percentage has increases in the last decade. Cervical adenocarcinoma cancer develops in the site of mucus producing glands present near the endocervix. Though the cancers are different in their outlook yet in some cases the characteristics of both of them have been seen. The cancer having the features of adenocarcinomas and squamous cell carcinoma is called mixed carcinomas or adenosquamous carcinomas.

Usually the onset of the cancer is without any symptoms. It takes more than 3-4 years to develop and then the symptoms too start showing. Before the cancer starts the pre-cancerous changes do take place. But it has been seen that most of the changes go away without any treatment. Cancer has always been the mysterious ailment and its also with the cervical cancer too.