According to the 2003 National Cancer Registry in Malaysia, there are over 600 new cases of tongue, mouth, gums, salivary glands and oropharyngeal cancer every year!

Smoking does cause mouth cancer as well. It is called oral cancer, which comes under a broader group called oropharyngeal cancer (cancer of the mouth or throat). When detected early, oral cancer is almost always cured.

But unfortunately, so many people still present it at such a last stage. Oral cancer is more common in men than women because men tend to smoke more frequently.

Relatively speaking, oral cancer is easy to detect, but so many people still present it at a late stage? This is because this type of cancer is usually confused with other mouth, lips, tongue, cheek and throat diseases. Many people also overlooked the importance of having ENT (ear, nose, throat) screening in their yearly checkup, thinking it’s not important.

Also oral cancer is usually painless. So the hapless patient might think that innocent-looking swelling in his/her cheek is due to an ingrown wisdom tooth rather cancer. Most oral cancer are on the lips (easy to see), tongue or the floor of the mouth (easy to feel).

Things you have to look out for include:

• A sore in your mouth that doesn’t heal. Or if it keeps on increasing in size (mouth cancer)
• Lumps in your mouth that don’t go away (mouth cancer)
• White read or dark patches inside your mouth that persist, or anything out of the ordinary that wasn’t there before (mouth cancer)
• Persistent pain in your mouth (mouth cancer)
• Repeated bleeding in the mouth
• Thickening of your cheek (mouth cancer growing inside the soft tissue)
• Difficulty chewing, swallowing or moving your tongue (tongue cancer, mouth cancer, oropharyngeal cancer) (more…)

Here are some relevant facts about cervical cancer:

• Cervical cancer is the second most common cancer occurring in women, after breast cancer.
• Worldwide, every two minutes, a woman dies of cervical cancer.
• Globally, more than 270,000 deaths occur each year from cervical cancer.
• There are an estimated 500,000 reported cervical cancer cases each year, with more than 80% in developing countries.
• In Asia Pacific, an estimated 266,000 cases of cervical cancer are diagnosed each year, with approximately 143,000 dying from the disease.
• In developing countries, only 41% of women will get the treatment they need to survive.
• Cervical cancer affects women in the prime of their lives, often while they are working and are still responsible for their children and wider family.

Cervical cancer is the third most common cancer among Malaysian females after breast and colorectal cancer. In 2006, cervical cancer accounted for 9.1% of all female cancers in Peninsula Malaysia .

Screening programmes using Pap smears are an important early detection tool, but normal Pap Smear do not detect all pre-cancerous lesions or cancer. Screening programmes can identify abnormal and pre-cancerous cells on the cervix; they do not prevent the cause of cervical cancer and abnormal cells, ie persistent infection with cancer-causing HPV types .

Excerpt: HPV and cervical cancer

There are 2 types of Pap Smear test in the market. Do take note that Pap Smear Thin Prep method should be used whenever possible for more accurate screening of cervix.