Selected Podcast
Cervical Cancer Awareness and Prevention
In this episode, Dr. Cassandra Lacher will lead a discussion on the cervical cancer prevention, and the importance of screenings.
Featured Speaker:
Cassandra Lacher, DO. MHA
Cassandra Lacher, DO, MHA, is an oncologist and hematologist at the Riverside Cancer Institute. Dr. Lacher completed her master of health administration degree and doctor of osteopathic medicine degree at A.T. Still University in Kirksville, Missouri. She then completed her internal medicine osteopathic residency and hematology/oncology fellowship at Michigan State University in Lansing, Michigan. In addition to her education, Dr. Lacher is very involved in the community and volunteers with numerous organizations. She is passionate about community oncology and providing adequate support services for patients to help them through their cancer diagnosis. Transcription:
Cervical Cancer Awareness and Prevention
Gabby Cinnamon: Welcome back to Conversations on Cancer, brought to you by the Riverside Cancer Institute. I'm your host, Gabby Cinnamon, and today I am grateful to be joined by Dr. Cassandra Lasher, an oncologist and hematologist at the Riverside Cancer Institute. Today we're talking about something very important, cervical cancer awareness and prevention.
Thank you so much for coming on the podcast today, Dr.
Guest: Lasher. Thank you so much for
Gabby Cinnamon: having me. So this is your first episode with us. Can you tell us a little about your
Guest: background? Sure. My name is Cassandra Lasher. I'm a board certified oncologist and internal medicine physician, and I have my Master in Health administration.
I've been working in the field of oncology now for about five years, and I'm very passionate about community education, especially in oncology. That's
Gabby Cinnamon: awesome. So can you tell us what is cervical cancer?
Guest: Cervical cancer is cancer that arises from the cells of the cervix. It is a cancer that occurs in women.
Gabby Cinnamon: What causes it and how does
Guest: it form? Sure. Cervical cancer is primarily found to be caused by an infection with certain strains of the human papilloma virus or HPV V virus. The virus is very common. In fact, most people will contract it at some point in their lives. Typically the HPV V virus resolves on its own and people never know they have it, but occasionally it does not resolve on its own and can lead to cervical cancer over time.
Other risk factors for cervical cancer include tobacco, smoking and H I V infections.
Gabby Cinnamon: kind of going off of those risk factors, can you talk about which ones are in your control and then I am sure there are also some that are out of your control as well.
Guest: Right. So again, HPV is the most common risk factor for cervical cancer. It's spread primarily through close, intimate contact, usually sexually. obviously our sexual encounters are things that we are in control of, and so making sure that we're choosing appropriate partners, making sure that.
not, having multiple partners, making sure that we're practicing safe sex are things that we are in control of and preventing our risk of cervical cancer. But once we have the HPV virus, there's not much that we can do to reduce that risk of, Progression to cervical cancer outside of making sure we're getting appropriate screenings, what are
Gabby Cinnamon: some common misconceptions or myths surrounding cervical cancer,
Guest: A lot of times people associate cervical cancer with promiscuity, and while there is. Some increased risk of cervical cancer. When we have multiple sexual partners. It's not really appropriate to consider that anyone with cervical cancer has been promiscuous in their lifetime.
The truth is there's no way to know if somebody has HPV infections and one sexual encounter can cause a long-term HPV infection. however, there is evidence that delaying intercourse until late teens or older and limiting the number of sexual partners does reduce someone's risk to being exposed to hpv.
Gabby Cinnamon: You mentioned screening earlier. How does that help in preventing cervical cancer and there are other ways to prevent it.
Guest: the most important things that a woman can do to reduce her risk of cervical cancer is reducing her risk of HPV infections. Some of the things we do for this are the HPV vaccine, which does protect against the HPV strains that can cause cervical cancer. Currently, the HPV vaccine is recommended for men and women aged nine to 26 years old.
It can be given later in life, and that's something you can discuss with your. Additionally, having a regular pap smear and pelvic exam is important in identifying any pre-cancerous changes on the cervix or identifying the HPV virus itself. This testing can be done through your primary care physician's office or a gynecology office, or there are other screening programs locally that are available for people who are underinsured or uninsured.
Gabby Cinnamon: How does the H P V vaccine prevent cervical cancer? I think when it first came out, there was, I don't know if controversy is the right word, but kind of a stigma around vaccinating kids with the HPV vaccine, which I think unfortunately has died down a little bit, but there's still, a little bit of misinformation out there.
So if you could talk about how it actually can help prevent cancer, that would be great.
Guest: Definitely. So, To be. I agree that people would get upset about the vaccine because they felt like by giving the vaccine that we're promising our children to have sexual intercourse at an early age. But the reality is that we're not in control of all of the choices our kids make.
And so by giving the HPV vaccine early in life before a first sexual encounter, that's really what helps prevent that progression to not only cervical cancer, but also penile cancers, anal cancers, head and neck cancers. So it's a big deal. For our children, the vaccine itself works by preventing infection of two high-risk HPV strains, the HPV 16 and HPV 18, which are both primarily responsible for HPV associated cancers.
The vaccine itself works by stimulating the body to produce antibodies that bind the virus and prevent it from infect. Healthy cells. The vaccine itself is not made of an active virus, but virus-like particles, so there's no dna, so it doesn't give an infection. But it helps the body make antibodies that resemble the virus so it can recognize the virus and treat it.
Gabby Cinnamon: I think it's crazy to think about because there's not much that you can do to prevent cancer, but the fact that there is a vaccine, that's awesome. So definitely encouraging people to take advantage of that and look into that for their kids.
For sure. What are the early warning signs of cervical cancer?
Guest: So the warning signs that we watch for cervical cancer are things like vaginal bleeding after intercourse between periods or after menopause. Really any unusual vaginal bleeding is of concern. The other things that people can complain of are watery or bloody vaginal discharge that can occasionally have a foul odor, as well as pelvic pain or pelvic pressure at any time.
And pain that happens during intercourse.
Gabby Cinnamon: What treatment options does the Riverside Cancer Institute offer to those diagnosed with cervical
Guest: cancer? So our local cancer institute is able to offer most of the treatments that are necessary for the treatment of cervical cancer.
Them on an early stage cervical cancer. Typically it's treated with surgery. We do have a gynecology oncologist who comes to our hospital system from rush on a regular basis, and she's able to help treat those people with surgery locally. also we have radiation access here in our facility at the Cancer Institute.
we are actively increasing our radiation options that will improve our treatments for cervical cancer locally, which will include intracavitary brachytherapy. This treatment works by delivering the radiation directly to the site of the. . And so that's something that we're hoping to have available later this year at the Cancer Institute in Bourbonnais.
And then through our medical oncology side, we're able to provide the appropriate systemic chemotherapy that treats the whole body for later stage cervical cancers often. in conjunction with our radiation treatments to help provide curative therapy locally. There's
Gabby Cinnamon: awesome, there's so much offered in the community and you don't have to travel to get that care.
And like, Dr. Lasher said there's a lot of exciting things coming to the Cancer Institute later this year, so that's amazing. How has treatment changed over the years? Have there been any new advances or developments and has the prognosis for cervical cancer improve?
Guest: Yes, so cervical cancer itself is having new and new treatments all the time.
There's several clinical trials actively underway right now for cervical cancer, but just in the last couple of years, we've been able to get some new treatment options that are targeted treatments for cervical cancer approved, and those are available now to be used in the appropriate patient. Cancer prognosis.
Currently, the five year survival for patients with an early stage cervical cancer is 92%. Oh, wow. That's great. So it's really amazing. Back before we were doing regular pap smears and pelvic exams, we were seeing a much higher. Rate of late stage cervical cancers and therefore a much higher rate of death from cancer related to the cervix.
in the past 40 years though, we have seen that the rate of death from cervical cancer has dropped 50% and really a lot of that is just attributed to pap smears on pelvic exams being a more regular part of our healthcare management.
Gabby Cinnamon: That's awesome. Is there anything else you would like to. .
Guest: Sure. So as with all cancers, curative therapy is possible and highly likely when it's identified early and treated appropriately.
So if you have a concern, see your doctor. If you don't have a doctor, get a doctor. You need to have someone you can call if you do have an ab abnormality or concern. Undergoing a regular pelvic exam in pap smear regularly is so important in identifying and treating any early stage vaginal cancers, anal cancers, cervical cancers.
cervical cancer is really a cancer of younger women, so it's most often diagnosed between the ages of 35 and 44. So I think we just have to recognize that we are getting older. As women and as we're getting more into our careers and more into family planning, we do have to make sure we're still taking care of ourselves even when we're busy doing taking care of everybody else.
I would also encourage people to just talk to your doctor about the HPV vaccine, whether it's right for you or right for your children. anything we can do to prevent. Cancer is worthwhile.
Gabby Cinnamon: That's a wonderful place to end off on. Thank you so much for coming on the podcast today, Dr. Lasher. And thank you listeners for tuning in to Conversations on Cancer brought to you by the Riverside Cancer Institute.
For more information, visit riverside healthcare.org/cancer. Make sure to leave a review and subscribe on Apple, Spotify, or wherever you listen to our podcast.
Cervical Cancer Awareness and Prevention
Gabby Cinnamon: Welcome back to Conversations on Cancer, brought to you by the Riverside Cancer Institute. I'm your host, Gabby Cinnamon, and today I am grateful to be joined by Dr. Cassandra Lasher, an oncologist and hematologist at the Riverside Cancer Institute. Today we're talking about something very important, cervical cancer awareness and prevention.
Thank you so much for coming on the podcast today, Dr.
Guest: Lasher. Thank you so much for
Gabby Cinnamon: having me. So this is your first episode with us. Can you tell us a little about your
Guest: background? Sure. My name is Cassandra Lasher. I'm a board certified oncologist and internal medicine physician, and I have my Master in Health administration.
I've been working in the field of oncology now for about five years, and I'm very passionate about community education, especially in oncology. That's
Gabby Cinnamon: awesome. So can you tell us what is cervical cancer?
Guest: Cervical cancer is cancer that arises from the cells of the cervix. It is a cancer that occurs in women.
Gabby Cinnamon: What causes it and how does
Guest: it form? Sure. Cervical cancer is primarily found to be caused by an infection with certain strains of the human papilloma virus or HPV V virus. The virus is very common. In fact, most people will contract it at some point in their lives. Typically the HPV V virus resolves on its own and people never know they have it, but occasionally it does not resolve on its own and can lead to cervical cancer over time.
Other risk factors for cervical cancer include tobacco, smoking and H I V infections.
Gabby Cinnamon: kind of going off of those risk factors, can you talk about which ones are in your control and then I am sure there are also some that are out of your control as well.
Guest: Right. So again, HPV is the most common risk factor for cervical cancer. It's spread primarily through close, intimate contact, usually sexually. obviously our sexual encounters are things that we are in control of, and so making sure that we're choosing appropriate partners, making sure that.
not, having multiple partners, making sure that we're practicing safe sex are things that we are in control of and preventing our risk of cervical cancer. But once we have the HPV virus, there's not much that we can do to reduce that risk of, Progression to cervical cancer outside of making sure we're getting appropriate screenings, what are
Gabby Cinnamon: some common misconceptions or myths surrounding cervical cancer,
Guest: A lot of times people associate cervical cancer with promiscuity, and while there is. Some increased risk of cervical cancer. When we have multiple sexual partners. It's not really appropriate to consider that anyone with cervical cancer has been promiscuous in their lifetime.
The truth is there's no way to know if somebody has HPV infections and one sexual encounter can cause a long-term HPV infection. however, there is evidence that delaying intercourse until late teens or older and limiting the number of sexual partners does reduce someone's risk to being exposed to hpv.
Gabby Cinnamon: You mentioned screening earlier. How does that help in preventing cervical cancer and there are other ways to prevent it.
Guest: the most important things that a woman can do to reduce her risk of cervical cancer is reducing her risk of HPV infections. Some of the things we do for this are the HPV vaccine, which does protect against the HPV strains that can cause cervical cancer. Currently, the HPV vaccine is recommended for men and women aged nine to 26 years old.
It can be given later in life, and that's something you can discuss with your. Additionally, having a regular pap smear and pelvic exam is important in identifying any pre-cancerous changes on the cervix or identifying the HPV virus itself. This testing can be done through your primary care physician's office or a gynecology office, or there are other screening programs locally that are available for people who are underinsured or uninsured.
Gabby Cinnamon: How does the H P V vaccine prevent cervical cancer? I think when it first came out, there was, I don't know if controversy is the right word, but kind of a stigma around vaccinating kids with the HPV vaccine, which I think unfortunately has died down a little bit, but there's still, a little bit of misinformation out there.
So if you could talk about how it actually can help prevent cancer, that would be great.
Guest: Definitely. So, To be. I agree that people would get upset about the vaccine because they felt like by giving the vaccine that we're promising our children to have sexual intercourse at an early age. But the reality is that we're not in control of all of the choices our kids make.
And so by giving the HPV vaccine early in life before a first sexual encounter, that's really what helps prevent that progression to not only cervical cancer, but also penile cancers, anal cancers, head and neck cancers. So it's a big deal. For our children, the vaccine itself works by preventing infection of two high-risk HPV strains, the HPV 16 and HPV 18, which are both primarily responsible for HPV associated cancers.
The vaccine itself works by stimulating the body to produce antibodies that bind the virus and prevent it from infect. Healthy cells. The vaccine itself is not made of an active virus, but virus-like particles, so there's no dna, so it doesn't give an infection. But it helps the body make antibodies that resemble the virus so it can recognize the virus and treat it.
Gabby Cinnamon: I think it's crazy to think about because there's not much that you can do to prevent cancer, but the fact that there is a vaccine, that's awesome. So definitely encouraging people to take advantage of that and look into that for their kids.
For sure. What are the early warning signs of cervical cancer?
Guest: So the warning signs that we watch for cervical cancer are things like vaginal bleeding after intercourse between periods or after menopause. Really any unusual vaginal bleeding is of concern. The other things that people can complain of are watery or bloody vaginal discharge that can occasionally have a foul odor, as well as pelvic pain or pelvic pressure at any time.
And pain that happens during intercourse.
Gabby Cinnamon: What treatment options does the Riverside Cancer Institute offer to those diagnosed with cervical
Guest: cancer? So our local cancer institute is able to offer most of the treatments that are necessary for the treatment of cervical cancer.
Them on an early stage cervical cancer. Typically it's treated with surgery. We do have a gynecology oncologist who comes to our hospital system from rush on a regular basis, and she's able to help treat those people with surgery locally. also we have radiation access here in our facility at the Cancer Institute.
we are actively increasing our radiation options that will improve our treatments for cervical cancer locally, which will include intracavitary brachytherapy. This treatment works by delivering the radiation directly to the site of the. . And so that's something that we're hoping to have available later this year at the Cancer Institute in Bourbonnais.
And then through our medical oncology side, we're able to provide the appropriate systemic chemotherapy that treats the whole body for later stage cervical cancers often. in conjunction with our radiation treatments to help provide curative therapy locally. There's
Gabby Cinnamon: awesome, there's so much offered in the community and you don't have to travel to get that care.
And like, Dr. Lasher said there's a lot of exciting things coming to the Cancer Institute later this year, so that's amazing. How has treatment changed over the years? Have there been any new advances or developments and has the prognosis for cervical cancer improve?
Guest: Yes, so cervical cancer itself is having new and new treatments all the time.
There's several clinical trials actively underway right now for cervical cancer, but just in the last couple of years, we've been able to get some new treatment options that are targeted treatments for cervical cancer approved, and those are available now to be used in the appropriate patient. Cancer prognosis.
Currently, the five year survival for patients with an early stage cervical cancer is 92%. Oh, wow. That's great. So it's really amazing. Back before we were doing regular pap smears and pelvic exams, we were seeing a much higher. Rate of late stage cervical cancers and therefore a much higher rate of death from cancer related to the cervix.
in the past 40 years though, we have seen that the rate of death from cervical cancer has dropped 50% and really a lot of that is just attributed to pap smears on pelvic exams being a more regular part of our healthcare management.
Gabby Cinnamon: That's awesome. Is there anything else you would like to. .
Guest: Sure. So as with all cancers, curative therapy is possible and highly likely when it's identified early and treated appropriately.
So if you have a concern, see your doctor. If you don't have a doctor, get a doctor. You need to have someone you can call if you do have an ab abnormality or concern. Undergoing a regular pelvic exam in pap smear regularly is so important in identifying and treating any early stage vaginal cancers, anal cancers, cervical cancers.
cervical cancer is really a cancer of younger women, so it's most often diagnosed between the ages of 35 and 44. So I think we just have to recognize that we are getting older. As women and as we're getting more into our careers and more into family planning, we do have to make sure we're still taking care of ourselves even when we're busy doing taking care of everybody else.
I would also encourage people to just talk to your doctor about the HPV vaccine, whether it's right for you or right for your children. anything we can do to prevent. Cancer is worthwhile.
Gabby Cinnamon: That's a wonderful place to end off on. Thank you so much for coming on the podcast today, Dr. Lasher. And thank you listeners for tuning in to Conversations on Cancer brought to you by the Riverside Cancer Institute.
For more information, visit riverside healthcare.org/cancer. Make sure to leave a review and subscribe on Apple, Spotify, or wherever you listen to our podcast.