[Cervix cancer: incidence, diagnosis, therapeutic principle]

The incidence of cervical cancer is decreasing, wherever screening programs are offered and accepted. Pathogenetic factors for dysplasia and cervical cancer among others are coital activity in early adolescence, promiscuity and low economic status. More than 80 percent of severe cervical dysplasias as a precancerous stage show the oncogenic potential of a sexually transmitted disease. The prognosis of cervical cancer widely depends on the stage found at the time of first detection. The staging procedure which then follows needs gynecological experience and skill. Clinical staging with methods auxiliary to inspection, colposcopy and palpation is still the most common method and remains to be the basis of the international data treasure of the Annual Report of FIGO, although clinical methods and even CT and MRI are insufficient for the evaluation of pelvic and/or paraaortic lymphnode metastases. To overcome the imperfection of clinical staging, surgical procedures are recommended to complete before any therapeutic decision is made, at least in cases thought to be operable. Radical hysterectomy with pelvic lymphadenectomy in stages Ib and IIa is the method of choice in most modern centers of gynecologic oncology. However, radiotherapy is still prevalent in all stages of cervical cancer as the most common therapy around the world. Further development in 5-years survival figures is expected to profit from supporting screening programs in risk populations or from expansions of already existing programs rather than from further modifications of the therapeutic modalities, already highly specialized.