Local 12: Cervical cancer on the rise among younger patients

Local 12 featured University of Cincinnati Cancer Center patient Jennifer Wesley and physician-researcher Thomas Herzog, MD, to highlight the importance of screenings as cervical cancer is on the rise among younger patients.

A routine screening at Wesley's gynecologist found she had cervical cancer, and Herzog and the Cancer Center team quickly sprung into action to develop a treatment plan. Herzog said recent research has found cervical cancer is on the rise, and in later stages, among young patients.

"That was shocking because we don't see increases in solid tumors, especially in advanced stages, especially considering that this is a disease for which we can easily screen," Herzog, a Cancer Center member, the Paul and Carolyn Flory Professor in Gynecologic Oncology in the UC College of Medicine and director of UC Health’s Gynecologic Cancer Disease Center, told Local 12. "There's no doubt that COVID has had a negative impact on screening."

Wesley is now cancer free and sharing her story that routine screenings saved her life and could save the lives of others as well.

Watch or read the Local 12 story.

Featured photo at top of cervical cancer metastasis courtesy of National Cancer Institute/Winship Cancer Institute of Emory University. Photo taken by Scott Wilkinson and Adam Marcus.