Overview
- Clinicians stress that early cervical cancer often presents quietly rather than with severe pain or obvious illness.
- Unusual bleeding — between periods, after sex, or any bleeding after menopause — should be assessed by a clinician.
- Persistent changes in vaginal discharge or pain during sex, as well as ongoing pelvic or lower back pain, warrant evaluation.
- Urinary or bowel changes and recurrent urinary tract infections can occur as disease progresses, and swelling of one leg may indicate vessel compression.
- Experts also note unexplained weight loss or persistent fatigue as reasons to seek medical advice, and report that one in three women miss routine screening.