Cervical cancer and pregnancy

Cervical cancer is not all that common in developed countries, but it is very prevalent in underdeveloped nations. It kills tens of thousands of women a year because they don't get proper screening, like a Pap test regularly. Luckily, in the US, it is usually caught early in the form of dysplasia or early stage disease.

Now, while it is very lucky to have early detection, it doesn't mean that there is no treatment involved. Early treatment is typically some type of surgery, like LEEP or cone biopsy, to remove the abnormal tissue.

If only the abnormal tissue was all that was removed. Sadly, some normal tissue goes with it, and that means you have slightly less cervix than you had before.

How this affects conception and fertility varies. For some women, it doesn't matter at all. They easily get pregnant after surgery and have easy pregnancies.

For other women, afterwards they have little or no cervical mucus. I've discussed cervical mucus in a recent posting, but it can make a big difference for some women.

Many women have some degree of cervical stenosis. This is caused by scarring from healing and it makes the cervix a bit stiffer than normal. Rarely, this means that the cervix can't open at all, even for a period to be let out. Then sperm can't get in either.

To get past these problems, you can try on your own for a while, but then if that doesn't work, you can head to the specialist. If nothing else is wrong with you or your partner, then the doctor may only need to do an IUI, or intrauterine insemination, to get past the cervix.

After surgery, some women have some debris that traveled back up to the fallopian tubes and blocked them. Checking for tubal blockage is one thing on the checklist that a specialist will follow before deciding on treatment. If you have tubal blockage, they can try to clear it out or you may have to have a tube removed--don't worry too much about that as many, many women have gotten pregnant with only one fallopian tube.

Getting pregnant is only one step that is affected by cervical surgeries. Pregnancy is another, and delivery is the last. I have written about what my pregnancy and delivery was like in my website on cervical cancer. The link is listed at the end. Check it out for more information.