Long-term cancer risk warning

Women who have been treated for pre-cancerous lesions are still at risk of developing invasive cancer of the cervix or vagina 25 years later, research claims.

Scientists behind the study say the findings show a need for smears to be offered at regular intervals for at least 25 years after a woman has had severe dysplasia/CIS – abnormal cell growth on the surface of the cervix.

CIS is not cancer but is considered to be a pre-cancerous condition.

Using data from the National Swedish Cancer Register, researchers studied information recorded between 1958 and 2002 on 132,493 women who had a diagnosis of severe dysplasia/CIS.

They found that after more than a year from the CIS diagnosis 881 women had developed cervical cancer and 111 women had vaginal cancer.

Writing in the British Medical Journal the researchers argue that women with such a diagnosis are more than twice as likely to develop cancer as the general female population.

A higher risk of cervical cancer was also found if the woman was older at the time of diagnosis, particularly after the age of 50.

“The question on how follow-up should be carried out is not resolved but this study implies that it has been insufficient and that prospective studies for strategies of long term follow-up after treatment of high grade cervical lesions are needed,” the researchers conclude.+