Cervical cancer is the second leading cause of cancer deaths among women, but it is a condition that can be prevented.
Cervical cancer is the second leading cause of cancer-related deaths among women, but it is a condition that is one hundred percent preventable if detected in time.
This was the opinion of health specialists, who met at the conference «Biomarkers as a tool to detect cervical cancer», in which they highlighted the scope of the Preventix laboratory to combat this disease. The Mexican company Atso Pharma, through its holding Timser, opened a laboratory called Preventix with which it is possible to detect precancerous lesions and cancer itself, through blood.
This represents a breakthrough in the face of the challenges that thousands of women around the world face on a daily basis due to cervical cancer.
According to obstetrician-gynecologist Denisse Acuña González, one of the main problems that prevent early detection is the lack of information and education.
Education in the population is a priority that we must all do, especially those populations that are in the developing world or in indigenous communities where a sexual life begins at a very early age.
In response to this, his colleague, Dr. David Cantú, Director of Research at the National Cancer Institute, said that cervical cancer does not develop overnight, but takes a long time to develop, approximately 10 to 20 years. In fact, he said, 70 to 80 percent of the cases arrive at an advanced stage.
For this reason, he pointed out that one of the most important challenges is to learn about the disease, access to studies. Not only to know the risks, but also to learn about the response of the results. The quality of the results and of the studies. Risk factors, costs associated with the patient coming to your office, etc.
In this regard, Dr. Ruth Esparza mentioned the importance of biomarkers as an early detection method for cervical cancer. «A biomarker is a biomolecule. What it does is to detect what is happening in a process, whether in a pathology such as cancer or diabetes, and to know that we can find it in time,» she explained.
Finally, Dr. Eduardo Cervera Cevallos, director of teaching at the National Cancer Institute, stated that with Preventix it is possible to detect precancerous lesions and cancer itself through blood. Approximately 70 percent of the cases are invisible, so the disease is not detected until it is already advanced.
In fact, he pointed out, the treatment of a woman in stage zero is very low cost. However, in stage three, treatment costs between two or three million pesos. This can be avoided by detecting it earlier or even preventing it from the beginning.
«If general screening can lead us to prevention and have the opportunity and accommodate the model to shorten the gap, it can detect precancerous lesions or cervical cancer with just a drop of blood.»
Likewise, the doctor commented that the results will be ready approximately one week after the test has been performed. «We want to send cancer down a tube,» he concluded.
