The New Era of Cervical Cancer Care: Early Detection, Better Treatments, and Brighter Outcomes
December 17, 2025
Cervical cancer is 100% preventable. Unlike other cancers, cervical cancer not only has a reliable screening test but also a highly effective prevention tool, the HPV vaccine. Thanks to improvements in screening and advanced treatment options, deaths from cervical cancer have decreased by as much as 70% worldwide since the 1950s.
Yet, over 4,000 women lost their lives to cervical cancer last year alone.
According to Dr. Amelia Jernigan, Division Director of Gynecology Oncology at LSU Health New Orleans, cervical cancer is usually silent in its early stages. And without proper screening, a person can go years without knowing that cancer is developing in their body.
This Cervical Cancer Awareness Month, we’re highlighting how knowledge, proactive care, and modern medicine give women more control than ever — if they know when and how to use these lifesaving tools.
What Matters Most: Risk Factors of Cervical Cancer
When it comes to cancer, the goal is always to prevent or catch it in as early a stage as possible. This starts with knowing a person’s risk factors. For cervical cancer, the first one may seem obvious, but it’s essential.
“The number one risk factor is having a cervix,” says Dr. Jernigan.
Age is also a factor. According to Dr. Jernigan, cervical cancer is more common after a person’s reproductive years — the same time a lot of women stop seeing their OBGYN regularly.
“Once people are done having kids, they often stop seeing their OBGYN,” Dr. Jernigan says. With the average age of diagnosis being 50, many women miss routine screenings right when they’re especially necessary. Without monitoring, cancer can develop and grow quickly.
Beyond age and sex, a key risk factor is the human papillomavirus (HPV), which causes nearly all cases of cervical cancer. Exposure to HPV is common, with over 80% of adults having come into contact with it.
Just as people are in control of keeping up with their annual OBGYN appointments and routine screenings, they have access to another powerful tool: the HPV vaccine.
“One of the very cool things about the HPV virus causing cervical cancer is that we have an effective vaccine,” explains Dr. Jernigan. “Right now, we have a vaccine that protects against nine different strains.”
She also notes that other factors can accelerate HPV, such as smoking and having a suppressed immune system.
A New Era of Cervical Cancer Treatment Options
While increased awareness and advancements in medicine have helped prevent people from developing cervical cancer, there were still over 13,000 cases in 2025. This is when research in cancer treatments becomes critical in saving lives.
“With early cervical cancer, we can often cure patients with surgery alone,” says Dr. Jernigan.
While surgery used to be more invasive, there are now a range of minimally invasive options, including laparoscopic surgery and robotic surgery. LSU LCMC Health Cancer Center is one of the leading enrolling sites for a randomized control clinical trial (called the ROCC trial) that offers robotic surgery for a radical hysterectomy.
For more advanced cancers, immunotherapy uses the body’s own immune system to destroy cancer cells. “Cancer is a disease of immunosuppression. To have cancer means your body didn’t reject something that was not supposed to be there,” says Dr. Jernigan. “We can figure out how to properly turn things on.”
“With more advanced disease, immunotherapies had a big heyday lately and have seen a lot of action. It’s moved from later-line all the way up to frontline therapy,” she says.
Antibody drug conjugates offer a targeted approach to fighting cervical cancer. “It’s sort of like putting glitter on glue. If you know what a tumor cell expresses on its surface and you can figure out how to stick something to that, you can take really high doses of intense chemo treatments and basically put it right on the tumor,” explains Dr. Jernigan. “Then, it gets internalized to kill the tumor cell.”
As cancer researchers continue to expand on these promising treatments, more options become available to women and more lives will be saved.
Clinical Trials: Access to Tomorrow’s Treatments Today
New ways to prevent, diagnose, and treat cancer are always in development. Through clinical trials, patients can have access to the latest and most effective treatments available.
Most clinical trials are “comparing standard of care to an alternative that we think will be better,” explains Dr. Jernigan. That means that participating in a clinical trial gets you the current treatment or what researchers have evidence to believe will be even more effective.
According to Dr. Jernigan, some patients have expressed concerns about not getting the treatment arm of the trial. But as she says, “I’m not going to give you nothing. Nobody’s just getting a sugar pill. You’re always at least getting standard of care.”
Plus, on top of access to cutting-edge treatment, clinical trial participants have the added benefit of being even more closely monitored by their care teams, who are dedicated to ensuring participants are doing exactly what they need to do for the best chance of survival — and it works.
“Even if you just take standard of care, if you compare them to patients who are getting treated off the trial, they do better,” explains Dr. Jernigan. “They live longer, and they have more durable progression free survivals.”
At LSU LCMC Health Cancer Center, in addition to the ROCC clinical trial, there are a range of other cervical cancer clinical trials. For instance, the GOG-3101 uses a new antibody drug conjugate to treat cervical cancer. A rare tumor trial, SWOG-S2012, adds immunotherapy to treat neuroendocrine tumors, such as neuroendocrine of the cervix.
Action Today for a Cervical Cancer-Free Tomorrow
Cervical cancer may be quiet in its early stages, but the tools to prevent, detect, and treat it have never been stronger. With reliable screening, a highly effective vaccine, and rapid advancements in treatment through clinical trials, we can outsmart cervical cancer if people stay engaged with their care.
By prioritizing cervical health at every age and pursuing promising prevention and treatment options, we move closer to a future where cervical cancer is no longer a threat. This Cervical Cancer Awareness Month, we encourage everyone to get informed and stay proactive. Together, we can turn the tide on cervical cancer and protect countless lives.