China Newsweek Celiac disease has always been seen as a common gynecological condition. However, not only has this “disease” been removed from American textbooks, but the notion that it is a “precancerous lesion” has also been discredited. Nevertheless, in the domestic medical market, this “disease” is commonly over-medicated. Two years ago, Wang Jia was found to have “mild cervical erosion” during her medical checkup, so she went to a reputable private hospital in Beijing and spent more than $2,000 for a LEEP knife (cervical electrosurgery loop) operation.
Although the doctor who did her physical examination has told her that mild cervical erosion does not require treatment, “but I am a little uneasy, for the sake of future fertility, it is better to eradicate it.” Wang Jia explained.
In fact, even her medical doctor is afraid that she does not know, let Wang Jia so relieved “celiac disease”, is not a disease.
A “disease” removed from the textbooks
Whenever you meet someone who comes to see a doctor for “celiac disease”, she will first “hand out” a copy of the newspaper to them.
”The actual fact is, simple celiac disease doesn’t need to be treated at all.” The chief physician of obstetrics and gynecology has a helpless tone, “Since the 1980s, in the United States, celiac disease is not a disease, and even the word, was removed from the textbooks.”
Ms. Han, who is now a doctor in the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology at a tertiary hospital in Guangzhou, clearly remembers that five years ago, when she was a student at Southern Medical University, the 5th edition of the textbook “Obstetrics and Gynecology” still listed “cervical erosion” as one of the symptoms of chronic cervicitis, and the method of its diagnosis also remained in the stage of visual observation.
The 7th edition of the textbook “Obstetrics and Gynecology”, published in 2008, clearly states in its preface that it is necessary to keep pace with international standards and pay attention to the updating of knowledge …… to constantly update clinical diagnostic and treatment standards. For example, the name “cervical erosion” was abolished and replaced by the physiological phenomenon of “cervical columnar epithelial ectasia”.
What exactly is “columnar epithelial ectasia”? In this regard, Song Xuehong explained that there are two types of epithelium on the surface of the female cervix during embryogenesis: primitive squamous epithelium and columnar epithelium. Before puberty, the original “squamous-columnar junction” is located in the cervical canal and so on. After puberty, under the action of estrogen, the size of the cervix grows rapidly and greatly exceeds the body of the uterus, followed by “cervical ectropion”. Ectropion exposes the cervical columnar epithelium to the ectocervix in a red and rough form – red because the columnar epithelium is arranged in a single layer with a rich network of blood vessels beneath it; rough because the columnar epithelium is fused to each other in a villi or granular form.
To put it simply, columnar epithelial ectropion is caused by estrogen in women’s bodies, and this physiological phenomenon lasts for decades from puberty onwards. Some people have it and some people don’t, depending on their body type. Song Xuehong said, “The degree of simple columnar epithelial ectropion is not related to the disease.”
Nevertheless, a search for “celiac disease” in the China Knowledge Network database of academic journals yielded a total of 8,813 related articles. The earliest of these articles dates back to 1958, and in 2010 alone, 610 Chinese papers were published with “celiac disease” as a keyword. However, less than 10 articles were retrieved using the keywords “columnar epithelial ectasia” or “columnar epithelial ectopic”.
In the many publications on cervical erosion, one can easily see the descriptions of its treatment methods: from various herbal treatments, acupuncture, fire ironing, electrocautery, freezing, high-frequency electric knife in the early days, to ultrasound, electrodesiccation, microwave, laser, and now the most advanced LEEP knife. In the past 50 years, the medical profession has been constantly updating the treatment methods for cervical erosion.
However, the use of the term “cervical erosion” to describe the red, rough appearance of a woman’s outer cervix is a medical error that has been around for over 100 years. The “celiac disease” that has been treated with various therapies for so many years turns out not to be a disease, and the Chinese medical community is nearly 30 years behind foreign countries in understanding this! Not only that, but this “misunderstanding” is still being perpetuated, intentionally or unintentionally.
The gynecological diseases that are over-medicated Searching for “celiac disease” on the Internet results in a lot of “medical health websites” with knowledge about this “disease” and a lot of specialized hospitals claiming to have “celiac disease”. The most advanced” treatments claimed by specialist hospitals.
When the reporter, as a patient, described herself on the phone as having “mild cervical erosion” and consulted Beijing Aubei Hospital, the other party replied, “If you have had a TCT test (a cervical smear test) and there are no abnormalities, you can be treated with us, and you only need a one-time Do a U.S. LEEP knife surgery, the effect is very good. The price is 985 yuan.”
”In our hospital, the LEEP knife is not used several times a year. But many small private hospitals invite retired doctors with higher titles but whose medical philosophy has lagged behind to sit in,” Guo Qiao, chairman of a high-end private hospital in Shanghai and an American Association of Obstetricians and Gynecologists-certified doctor, told China Newsweek, “For them, treating cervical erosion is a ‘big fat’ and a procedure can cost as little as a thousand dollars and as much as six or seven thousand.”
Guo Qiao said, in the United States, hospitals do not diagnose cervical erosion, only based on the results of cytopathological analysis to make a judgment, not based on the naked eye to see whether there is “erosion”. As for the so-called “severe cervical erosion”, it is most likely because the patient has other inflammatory conditions.
Guo Qiao added that in addition to cervical erosion, another gynecological condition that is over-diagnosed and over-treated is “pelvic inflammatory disease”. This is because pelvic inflammatory disease can be physiological in nature, in addition to being caused by bacterial infection, but it is more difficult to confirm through laboratory tests and ultrasound. “In China, whenever you have an upset stomach for gynecological reasons, most doctors will diagnose you with pelvic inflammatory disease if they can’t find any obvious reason.”
Dr. Han also confirmed that there were young women in their twenties who came to their hospital for cervical inflammation. When asked, they realized that many of them had previously been to those private clinics to see cervical erosion. “The actual fact is that they had nothing to do with the disease, but after the LEEP knife surgery, they did not recover well and caused inflammation of the wound, spending thousands of dollars, but instead they found themselves a disease.”
The company’s main business is to provide a wide range of products and services to the public, including the following: the company’s products and services, the company’s products and services, and the company’s services. In addition, unnecessary treatment may also bring additional harm to the body, such as adhesion or atresia of the ectocervix, trauma leading to cervical inflammation or cervical endometriosis, and impaired cervical function causing miscarriage or premature delivery during pregnancy.
In addition to clinical overmedication, the renewal of concepts may take some time. According to Guo Qiao, the old-fashioned medical concept in China, which uses visual observation rather than cytopathological methods to make a diagnosis, is also the reason for the misunderstanding of the treatment of “celiac disease”.
The actual LEEP knife, which is a technology used to treat pre-cancerous lesions of the cervix, is now used by many hospitals to treat cervical erosion, driven by economic interests. Song Xuehong is deeply concerned about this, almost 60% of women have varying degrees of cervical columnar epithelial ectasia, which is a huge market. Here, she raised her voice, “How many manufacturers are fed by the vaginas of Chinese women!”
The relationship between “celiac disease” and cervical cancer has been set aside in 1958, a group of obstetrics and gynecology teaching and research group of the North Medical College in the cancer prevention census work, 7499 women aged 30 to 60 years old did a survey found that the incidence of precancerous cervical erosion is 56%, they believe that ” This shows that active treatment of cervical erosion is essential in cancer prevention efforts”. The results of this study were published in the Journal of Beijing Medical College in January 1959, the earliest domestic discussion of the relationship between cervical erosion and cervical cancer retrieved online.
Celiac disease has long been viewed by the medical community as a precursor to the possible development of cervical cancer. This is why Wang Jia, who graduated from a prestigious university and thinks she has some medical knowledge, always feels relieved when she hears that she has cervical erosion, and says that she wants to break this “root” of the disease.
The second most common malignant tumor among women worldwide, after breast cancer, is cervical cancer. In fact, medical research has clearly established that persistent oncogenic human papillomavirus (HPV) infection is the main cause of cervical cancer. Therefore, the latest medical concept is that “cervical erosion” is not directly related to cervical cancer.
In fact, cervical cancer is a relatively “benign” cancer that can be prevented and treated. Not all persistent oncogenic HPV infections necessarily lead to cervical cancer, says Song Xuehong. The vast majority of HPV infections, especially in women under the age of 35, can be cleared by their own natural immunity. Recent epidemiological studies from around the world related to HPV infection have found that women have up to 80% HPV infection in the first 10 years after their first sexual intercourse, but the vast majority of these infections clear spontaneously within 1 to 2 years.
Despite the high mortality rate of intermediate and late stage cervical cancer, the success rate of early stage cervical cancer cure is almost 100%. This is because, compared to other malignancies, the most important feature of cervical cancer is its relatively slow biological course. It takes an average of 10 years from persistent oncogenic HPV infection to severe pre-cancerous lesions; and an average of 10 years to develop from early to advanced cervical cancer. The first 10 years is a critical period for women to be effectively screened and treated.
Song Xuehong also pointed out that women are relatively more prone to HPV infection when they have columnar epithelial ectropion, although there is no qualitative or quantitative conclusion on its relationship with cervical cancer in the scientific community. Therefore, the claim by some private hospitals that celiac disease can increase the chances of cervical cancer by a certain percentage is unfounded.
”In short, the presence of ‘celiac disease’ does not mean cervical precancer; the absence of ‘celiac disease’ does not mean that there is no precancer.” The company’s main goal is to provide a comprehensive range of products and services to the public.