The diagnosis may be made from a history of coitus with a man having active syphilis, by microscopic examination if necessary, and by the later appearance of secondary syphilitic symptoms.
Tuberculosis of the Cervix.—Tuberculosis of the cervix is a very rare condition. The appearance of the cervix in such cases resembles that of cancer. In fact, hysterectomy has been performed for this condition under the mistaken diagnosis of malignant disease.
The diagnosis may be made by the microscopic examination of the discharge and of excised tissue.
Complete hysterectomy should be performed for tuberculosis of the cervix.
CHAPTER XVI.
CANCER OF THE CERVIX UTERI.
Cancer of the cervix uteri is a very common disease. About one-third of all cases of cancer in women affect the uterus. Like cancer in other parts of the body, the disease has been observed at almost every period of life except infancy. It occurs most frequently during the active mature life of the woman, between the ages of thirty and fifty. It is probable that more cases occur during the latter decade of this period than during the former.
Cancer of the cervix is a disease of the childbearing woman. It is very rare in women who have never conceived. Statistics show that women who develop cancer of the cervix have borne on an average five children. The stout, well-nourished mother of a large family is very prone to cancer of the cervix.
It is probable that the chief predisposing cause of cancer of the cervix is a fissure or laceration caused by miscarriage or labor. A focus of irritation, an area of diminished resistance, is thus developed, where cancer may start in a woman predisposed to this disease. In some of the cases of cancer of the cervix occurring in sterile women it has been found that previous traumatism had been inflicted by dilatation or incision of the cervix.