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Vaginal cancer

Carcinoma vaginae · Rakovina pochvy

female only

What it is

A rare cancer of the vaginal lining, mostly caused by HPV in older women; a clear-cell type struck young daughters of women given DES in pregnancy (1940s–70s).

Symptoms & signs

  • Bleeding after menopause or after sex
  • watery or smelly discharge
  • a lump in the vagina
  • pain passing urine or stool
  • pelvic pain

🚩 Get help if…

  • see a doctor soon Bleeding after menopause or after sex
  • see a doctor soon Lump or sore in the vagina that doesn't heal
  • see a doctor soon Watery, bloody or smelly discharge
  • see a doctor soon Pain on passing urine or stool, or pelvic pain

Where it strikes

Medical treatment

  • Examination, colposcopy and biopsy
  • MRI staging
  • radiotherapy with brachytherapy, often with cisplatin
  • surgery for small early tumours

Natural & lifestyle

  • HPV vaccination
  • stop smoking
  • keep up smears after a hysterectomy for HPV disease

Emerging & experimental

  • Immunotherapy (pembrolizumab) for HPV cancers
  • therapeutic HPV vaccines

Alternative, off-label & anecdotal

Approaches used outside the guidelines, with what their supporters report and what testing has found so far.

  • High-dose vitamin C and 'alternative cancer diets' — untested; delaying radiotherapy costs lives anecdotal / traditional
  • Mistletoe extract — used in Europe; trials disagree on quality of life mixed evidence

ICD codes