Cervical Screening Programme
Department of Health
The Government of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region
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Cervical cancer is a cancer that starts in the cervix, which is the lower
part of womb. It is an invasive tumour affecting the cervix. 'Invasive'
means that the tumour can spread from the surface of cervix into the deeper
tissues, which in turn may spread to adjacent structures (e.g. vagina,
nerve, pelvis and kidney) and finally to distant organs such as liver,
lung and brain. The development of cervical cancer is a series of events starting from
abnormal cell changes. The majority of these changes will regress to normal
while some may progress to cancer over years. The difference between early
cell changes and cancer is that cancer possesses the ability to invade
adjacent tissue and spread to distant body sites while cell changes do
not. [Flowchart for development of invasive tumour affecting the cervix ]
[Image ]
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