What are cervical precancerous lesions?

  Pre-cancerous lesions are lesions that are not cancerous in themselves and may not necessarily turn into cancer, but on top of these lesions, under the right conditions, may turn into cancer. In order to stop the development of cancer, we need to know some common sense.  Pre-cancerous lesions of the cervix used to be considered as cervical erosion, polyps, tears, ectopia and so on. However, it is now believed that the pathological histological changes of cervical biopsies should be considered. If atypical hyperplasia is found in the squamous epithelium of cervical biopsy, it is called pre-cancerous lesion. Many patients’ cervical surface is smooth but microscopic examination is already heavy atypical hyperplasia, which requires census work to be paid attention to, especially the attention of medical staff at the grassroots level is quite important.  When observing the occurrence and development of cervical cancer, the phenomenon of cervical epithelial cell metaplasia can be seen in the physiological variation; during the active metaplasia process, coupled with the stimulation of certain foreign carcinogenic substances, the active immature cells or proliferating squamous epithelial cells can develop in the direction of atypical hyperplasia, at which time the epithelial cells can be different from normal cells, but not enough to diagnose as cancer. Although not all atypical hyperplasia will develop into cervical cancer, according to statistics, if left untreated, 10%-15% of mild, moderate and 75% of severe atypical hyperplasia will turn into invasive cancer.  Any pre-cancerous cervical lesions should be treated promptly, such as laser, freezing, electrocautery, cone cutting and other methods. However, for those with severe atypical hyperplasia on pathological biopsy, total hysterectomy should be considered because of the high possibility of cancer, and regular follow-up is needed after surgery to avoid recurrence or missed diagnosis.