Clinical staging is used to determine the extent and spread of cancer within the body before treatment starts. The location from where the cancer originates is called the ‘primary site’. The extent to which the tumor has spread at the time of diagnosis is called ‘clinical stage’ in medical lexicon. At the time of diagnosis, the cancer may be localized to the primary site, may have spread locally, or may have spread to involve distant sites and organs. The staging system provides information for planning treatment and predict the prognosis.

The diagnosis of any cancer is established on biopsy material. A biopsy is obtained from the tissue or organ where cancer is suspected. The biopsy material is then processed and subjected to examination under the microscope. Biopsy not only provides the diagnosis، but also informs the physicians of several other important parameters pertinent to medical care، such as the type of cancer، its grade، the degree of differentiation، the likely biological behavior of the tumor، ie. slow growing or rapidly progressing، and prognostic factors. Prognostic factors refer to features which help predict the likely course of the disease.

The word ‘Screening’ refers to looking for cancer or the precancerous condition before the onset of symptoms. Through screening, cancer can be detected in the pre-invasive stage or in an early stage of cancer, when treatment is easier, and chances of cure are very high.

In this article, methods of prevention of gynecological cancer are described. Measure for prevention of cancer can be described as:

Primary prevention, (applicable to all individuals)
Secondary prevention (applicable to people at high risk of getting the cancer).
Tertiary prevention, (prevention of cancer once the cancer is successfully treated).