More Older Women Can Still Get Cervical Cancer, Hopkins Study Finds

BALTIMORE (WJZ) -- Most women stopped worrying about cervical cancer around age 65. But now, a Johns Hopkins study found that age cut-off may be fatally wrong.

Seeing blood clots may have saved Lisa Serp's life.

"The next day they told me I had cervical cancer. And they set me up to see my gynecological and he gave me a couple of options. I went with the radical hysterectomy," she says.

A study by Johns Hopkins finds more women than expected may be dying from cervical cancer. 77-percent more deaths for black women, and 47-percent more for white women.

"I think the thing that concerns me the most, did we fail at screening them, follow up, treatment, intervention, or was it their access to health care," says Dr. Pallavi Kumar, with Medstar Franklin Square hospital.

It might come down to age. If free from cervical cancer by sixty-five, pelvic exams and pap smears are usually not recommended. But, the study found that may not be the best practice.

"And what the finding was there was an increased risk of death for those patients with cervical cancers. Maybe these patients over the age of sixty-five should be screened," says Dr. Kumar.

For survivors of cervical cancer, the advice could not be more direct.

"I strongly encourage people to keep getting their exams," says Serp.

When screening and follow-up monitoring are used, cervical cancer is largely preventable.

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