What should I know?

Any diagnosis of cancer causes great fear and anxiety, particularly when cervical cancer is diagnosed in a young woman where loss of fertility may be a major issue. It should be emphasised at the outset that cure rates for early stage cervical cancer are extremely high and that treatment is very effective in most cases.

After a diagnosis of cervical cancer, every woman should be referred to a specialist gynaecological cancer centre. Every region in the UK is now organized into cancer networks, each having a cancer centre or centres. These are hospitals where there are specialist teams with particular expertise in management of gynaecological cancer.