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Fatal invasive cervical cancer secondary to untreated cervical dysplasia: a case report
Stephan Braun1, Daniel Reimer, Isolde Strobl
1Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Innsbruck Medical University, Anichstrasse 35, AT-6020 Innsbruck, Austria. alain.zeimet@i-med.ac.at.
Introduction:
Well-documented cases of untreated cervical intra-epithelial dysplasia resulting in fatal progression of invasive cervical cancer are scarce because of a long pre-invasive state, the availability of cervical cytology screening programs, and the efficacy of the treatment of both pre-invasive and early-stage invasive lesions.
Case Presentation:
We present a well-documented case of a 29-year-old Caucasian woman who was found, through routine conventional cervical cytology screening, to have pathologic Papanicolaou (Pap) grade III D lesions (squamous cell abnormalities). She subsequently died as a result of human papillomavirus type 18-associated cervical cancer after she refused all recommended curative therapeutic procedures over a period of 13 years.
Conclusion:
This case clearly demonstrates a caveat against the promotion and use of complementary alternative medicine as pseudo-immunologic approaches outside evidence-based medicine paths. It also demonstrates the impact of the individualized demands in diagnosis, treatment and palliative care of patients with advanced cancer express their will to refuse evidence-based treatment recommendations.
