What is Cervical Cancer?
Cancer starts when cells in the body begin to grow out of control. Cells in nearly any part of the body can become cancer, and can spread to other areas of the body. To learn more about how cancers start and spread, see What Is Cancer?
Cervical cancer starts in the cells lining the cervix — the lower part of the uterus (womb). This is sometimes called the uterine cervix. The fetus grows in the body of the uterus (the upper part). The cervix connects the body of the uterus to the vagina (birth canal).
The cervix is made of two different parts and is covered with two different types of cells.
- The part of the cervix closest to the body of the uterus is called the endocervix and is covered with glandular cells.
- The part next to the vagina is the exocervix (or ectocervix) and is covered in squamous cells.
These two cell types meet at a place called the transformation zone.
The exact location of the transformation zone changes as…. READ MORE ABOUT CERVICAL CANCER HERE.