The vaginal walls have a thin layer of cells called the epithelium made from squamous epithelial cells. Below the epithelium are connective tissue, involuntary muscle tissue, lymph vessels, and nerves. Vaginal intraepithelial neoplasia (VaIN), or vaginal dysplasia, occurs when abnormal cells in the vagina become cancer. These abnormal cells also have a precancerous lesion of the cervix known as cervical intraepithelial neoplasia (CIN). 85% of cancers that incorporate the vagina spread from other parts of the body as the cervix or uterus. The different types of vaginal cancers are squamous cell carcinoma, adenocarcinoma, clear cell adenocarcinoma, melanoma, and sarcomas.

Statistics
Vaginal cancer is rather uncommon, with an estimated 6,230 women infected this year. The 5-year survival rate for women with vaginal cancer is 47%.

Risk Factors And Symptoms
 The risk factors include:

• Age (50 and 70 years)
• Human papillomavirus infection (HPV)
• Smoking tobacco
• Cervical cancer
• Previous radiation therapy
• Diethylstilbestrol (DES)

Symptoms include an open sore that bleeds, oozes, or crusts, reddish, raised patch or irritated area that may crust or itch, but rarely hurts, shiny pink, red, pearly white, or translucent bump, pink growth with an elevated border; crusted central indentation, scar-like, white, yellow, or waxy area, often with a poorly defined border, wart-like growth, persistent, scaly red patch with irregular borders that may bleed easily, raised growth with a rough surface and a central depression.

Prevention

• Delaying first sexual intercourse until the late teens or older
• Avoiding sexual intercourse with multiple partners
• Avoiding sexual intercourse with someone who has had many partners
• Practicing safe sex, including condom use, although condoms cannot fully protect against HPV
• Having regular Pap tests to find and treat precancerous conditions
• Quitting smoking

Treatment
Surgery (vaginectomy, hysterectomy), chemotherapy, and radiation therapy (internal radiation therapy) are the currently available treatment options.