Overview

Widespread use of the Papanicolaou test (Pap smear), which detects cervical cancer and pre-cancerous lesions, has made cervical cancer one of the most preventable cancers. Incidence and mortality rates have decreased steadily over the past five decades. However, in the U.S. it is expected that an estimated 11,150 new cases will be diagnosed, and an estimated 3,670 women will die from the disease in 2007. Older, poorer, and less educated women are less likely to be screened and screening is not available in many low-resource regions of the world. Worldwide, cervical cancer has a significant impact, with nearly 500,000 new cases and nearly 250,000 deaths reported annually.

In June 2006, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved the use of a new vaccine to prevent infection from four types of the human papillomavirus (HPV). Two of the HPV types targeted by the vaccine (HPV-16 and HPV-18) are responsible for about 70% of the cases of cervical cancer worldwide. The other two HPV types (HPV-6 and HPV-11) cause approximately 90% of the cases of genital warts. The vaccine, made by Merck & Co., Inc., is based on laboratory research and technology developed at the NCI. For more information, go to Human Papillomavirus Vaccines for Cervical Cancer.

Gynecologic Cancers Topic Search — Cancer Topic Searches are prepared literature searches from the National Library of Medicine's PubMed database. Citations on a specific sub-category can be retrieved, or results limited by a date range.

Statistics

Cervical cancer incidence, mortality, and survival, including analysis by race and ethnicity, and information about trends in NCI-funded cervical cancer research.