Types and grades of cervical cancer

The type of cervical cancer you have tells you the type of cell that the cancer started in. The 2 main types of cervical cancer are squamous cell cancer and adenocarcinoma.

The grade of a cancer tells you how much the cancer cells look like normal cells. Cancer cells are divided into 3 grades.

Types

Knowing the type of cancer you have helps your doctor decide on which treatment you need. There are 2 main types of cervical cancer:

• squamous cell cancer
• adenocarcinoma

They are named after the type of cell that becomes cancerous.

Squamous cell cancer

Squamous cells are the flat, skin-like cells covering the cervix's outer surface (the ectocervix).

Between 80 and 90 out of every 100 cervical cancers (80 to 90%) are squamous cell cancers.

Adenocarcinoma

Adenocarcinoma is a cancer that starts in the gland cells that produce mucus. The cervix has glandular cells scattered along the inside of the passage that runs from the cervix to the womb (endocervix).

Adenocarcinoma is less common than squamous cell cancer, but has become more common in recent years. Between 10 and 20 out of every 100 cervical cancers (10 to 20%) are adenocarcinomas.

Adenocarcinoma is treated in the same way as squamous cell cancer of the cervix.

Adenosquamous carcinoma

Adenosquamous cancers are tumours that have both squamous and glandular cancer cells. This is a rarer type of cervical cancer. Between 3 to 10 out of every 100 cervical cancers (3 to 10%) are this type.

Adenosquamous cancers are treated similarly to squamous cell cancers of the cervix.

Rare types

Small cell cancer

Small cell cancer of the cervix is a very rare type of cervical cancer. Less than 5 in every 100 cervical cancers (5%) diagnosed are this type. 

Small cell cancers tend to grow quickly and are treated differently from the more common types of cervical cancer.

Other types

Very rarely, other types of cancer can occur in the cervix. For example, lymphomas and sarcomas. They are treated in a different way to cervical cancer.

Grades

The grade of a cancer tells you how much the cancer cells look like normal cells.

The grade gives your doctor an idea of how the cancer might behave and what treatment you need.

The grades of cancer cells are from 1 to 3:

• grade 1 (low grade) look most like normal cells
• grade 2 look a bit like normal cells
• grade 3 (high grade) look very abnormal and not like normal cells