Elizabeth looks back on the year she spent battling cervical cancer and says, "It was the shortest, longest year of my life." Read Elizabeth's Story

There are two main types of cervical cancer: squamous cell carcinoma and adenocarcinoma. There are also rare cervical cancers that have features of both, called adenosquamous carcinomas, or mixed carcinomas.

The biggest risk for cervical cancer is exposure to the human papilloma virus (HPV), now considered the cause in 95 percent of cervical cancer cases.

In 2006, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved a vaccine to protect uninfected women from the human papilloma virus (HPV). Dr. Denise Galloway and her fellow investigators at Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center accomplished the groundbreaking step of getting a key viral gene to assemble into particles resembling HPV. For more information about Dr. Galloway's research, click here.

Today, women facing cervical cancer have better treatment options than they did even a few years ago. Most of the women who come to Seattle Cancer Care Alliance for treatment for cervical cancer will be treated with surgery, chemotherapy, and radiation, or some combination of these.

If you would like to make an appointment at SCCA, contact the Patient Intake Office, at (206) 288-SCCA (7222). You will speak with one of our intake staff who works only with gynecologic cancer patients and who will be able to answer many of your questions.

For a virtual tour of the SCCA clinic, click here.

June 2007