Symptoms of ovarian cancer : Understanding Ovarian Cancer Screening Results from the PLCO Trial
At the 2006 SGO Annual Meeting on Women’s Cancers™ results from the ovarian cancer screening arm of the Prostate, Lung, Colon and Ovarian (PLCO) trial were presented. Researchers reported new criteria that allowed for the detection of 87% of early ovarian cancers and 93% of advanced ovarian cancers in asymptomatic postmenopausal women who participated in the study.
The PLCO trial is a randomized trial in which subjects are assigned to usual medical care versus annual screening for Prostate, Lung, Colon and Ovarian cancer. In this clinical trial, over 28,000 women, ages 55 – 74, were screened for ovarian cancer using a transvaginal ultrasound and serum CA 125 test.
The study results provoke an obvious question for women: Should I have an annual ultrasound and CA 125 test? In this brief communication we will attempt to guide women and their families in answering this question.
Ovarian cancer screening is difficult. The main difficulties arise because ovarian cancer is relatively uncommon. Roughly one in seventy women will be affected during their lifetime. At any point in time there are few cases in an asymptomatic population. With low prevalence diseases like ovarian cancer, a positive test is more likely to be a false alarm rather than a true warning of disease.
A second problem with ovarian cancer is that there is no safe and simple means to sort out false positive screening results from true positive results. Surgical removal of the ovaries is the only sure way to find out if a positive test means that you have ovarian cancer or if it’s a false alarm. So if an inaccurate test causes too many women to have unnecessary surgery, the test may cause more bad health effects than it prevents.
The researchers involved in the PLCO trial are still watching and measuring to determine the gains and losses that occurred as a result of the screening tests performed in this trial. They are also still watching what’s happening in the group that is not being screened. Ultimately they will be able to provide high quality information to guide the debate as to whether any of the screening methods used in this trial saved lives and were “worth it” in terms of financial costs and overall health. From the ovarian cancer screening portion of the trial one downside is already clear. More than 500 women underwent surgery to remove one or both ovaries as a result of abnormal screening results in this trial, and only 20 cases of ovarian cancer were diagnosed among these women. In the future, these numbers may improve as researchers employ new guidelines for interpretation of CA 125 and ultrasound results. However, even women who are able to avoid surgery will suffer considerable worry as a result of false positive tests.
Physician members of the Gynecologic Cancer Foundation recommend that ovarian cancer screening continue to be evaluated in the context of clinical trials. We await final analyses from the PLCO and other trials, and we continue to hope for a better, non-invasive diagnostic test when screening abnormalities are detected. Women with a positive family history of breast or ovarian cancer, and women with known mutations in the cancer associated BRCA1 and BRCA2 genes should speak with a knowledgeable specialist about cancer screening. For average risk women we recommend continued monitoring of this debate and further education about risks, prevention, signs and symptoms of gynecologic cancers. Log on to the Women’s Cancer Network at www.WCN.org for more information and for an assessment of your individual risk for gynecologic cancers.
Copyright © 1993-2006
CONVERSATIONS!The International Ovarian Cancer Connection
All Rights Reserved. ISSN: 1533-1334
The PLCO trial is a randomized trial in which subjects are assigned to usual medical care versus annual screening for Prostate, Lung, Colon and Ovarian cancer. In this clinical trial, over 28,000 women, ages 55 – 74, were screened for ovarian cancer using a transvaginal ultrasound and serum CA 125 test.
The study results provoke an obvious question for women: Should I have an annual ultrasound and CA 125 test? In this brief communication we will attempt to guide women and their families in answering this question.
Ovarian cancer screening is difficult. The main difficulties arise because ovarian cancer is relatively uncommon. Roughly one in seventy women will be affected during their lifetime. At any point in time there are few cases in an asymptomatic population. With low prevalence diseases like ovarian cancer, a positive test is more likely to be a false alarm rather than a true warning of disease.
A second problem with ovarian cancer is that there is no safe and simple means to sort out false positive screening results from true positive results. Surgical removal of the ovaries is the only sure way to find out if a positive test means that you have ovarian cancer or if it’s a false alarm. So if an inaccurate test causes too many women to have unnecessary surgery, the test may cause more bad health effects than it prevents.
The researchers involved in the PLCO trial are still watching and measuring to determine the gains and losses that occurred as a result of the screening tests performed in this trial. They are also still watching what’s happening in the group that is not being screened. Ultimately they will be able to provide high quality information to guide the debate as to whether any of the screening methods used in this trial saved lives and were “worth it” in terms of financial costs and overall health. From the ovarian cancer screening portion of the trial one downside is already clear. More than 500 women underwent surgery to remove one or both ovaries as a result of abnormal screening results in this trial, and only 20 cases of ovarian cancer were diagnosed among these women. In the future, these numbers may improve as researchers employ new guidelines for interpretation of CA 125 and ultrasound results. However, even women who are able to avoid surgery will suffer considerable worry as a result of false positive tests.
Physician members of the Gynecologic Cancer Foundation recommend that ovarian cancer screening continue to be evaluated in the context of clinical trials. We await final analyses from the PLCO and other trials, and we continue to hope for a better, non-invasive diagnostic test when screening abnormalities are detected. Women with a positive family history of breast or ovarian cancer, and women with known mutations in the cancer associated BRCA1 and BRCA2 genes should speak with a knowledgeable specialist about cancer screening. For average risk women we recommend continued monitoring of this debate and further education about risks, prevention, signs and symptoms of gynecologic cancers. Log on to the Women’s Cancer Network at www.WCN.org for more information and for an assessment of your individual risk for gynecologic cancers.
Copyright © 1993-2006
CONVERSATIONS!The International Ovarian Cancer Connection
All Rights Reserved. ISSN: 1533-1334
Symptoms of ovarian cancer : The ovarian cancer mural was created to raise public awareness and hope.
It is the brainchild of the Sandy Rollman Ovarian Cancer Foundation’s founders -- Robin Cohen and Adriana D’Alessandro, who saw an opportunity through it, to save lives. Time and awareness are crucial factors in diagnosing this disease, and they hope that this will get people talking, inspire research, and encourage women to become more proactive about their health. The mural has been a labor of love by many people and several organizations. After 3 years of searching and toiling through red tape, the wall was found. The Propper Brothers Furniture store has donated the south wall of their historic building in beautiful Manayunk, known for its river, bridges and lively Main Street. The Manayunk Development Corporation and the City of Philadelphia Mural Arts Program have contributed funding and support, and nearby businesses have been very supportive.
The artist, Ann Northrup, from the Philadelphia Mural Arts Program, is a perfect match because her heart is as great as her talent. The first step in her design process was a meeting with the ovarian cancer survivors in the Sandy Rollman Ovarian Cancer Foundation. The mural would be designed as a response to them. The survivors spoke eloquently about dealing with the diagnosis and the stages they went through, from panic to shock to taking action. They expressed “feeling alone in a crowed room” , but said that a weight was lifted from their hearts when they were with people who “wore the same red badge of courage.” The survivors described a sense of “climbing a ladder into the unknown”. Every aspect of their lives had changed profoundly in a way that would not change back. They spoke of doctors who could give very few answers, even in terms of survival statistics. They all expressed a desire to tell their stories, in the hopes that through increased knowledge and research, no other woman would ever have to go through what they had suffered.
The artist was excited about working with us, because of the opportunity to tell an important, emotional story, a story that might have the power to change peoples’ lives for the better. The design began as a small, semi-abstract landscape. It was a color study, with a swirl of radiant light in the center, and rich, somber color, punctuated with flashes of brilliance, around the edges. Last summer, while painting in California, Ann discovered the perfect landscape to embody her idea, in the Headlands of the Golden Gate. It is very beautiful, but very bleak, with steeply rolling hills, covered by sparse and dry vegetation. Cliffs plummet down to the San Francisco Bay, and frequent heavy fogs roll over the hills to enshroud the cliffs for many days, then blowing away inexplicably in the wind. During the time she was in California, Ann’s mother-in-law passed away. The harshness and unpredictability of the landscape seemed to her a visual metaphor about the impermanence of life on earth, with the stark beauty of nature in harsh contrast to our human needs and feelings. Nature is radiantly beautiful, but it just doesn’t care about us. It doesn’t take sides.
Once the design process was a little further along, we gave feedback to Ann that she had been too successful at creating a dark and somber emotional space, and that she needed to have more positive notes of hope. So she lightened and softened the sky, and invited the group of survivors from the Sandy Rollman Ovarian Cancer Foundation to meet her near the Philadelphia Museum of Art for a photo session. She planned to get them dancing and see if she could get some lively shots. Ann had brought the wrong batteries for her CD player and was forced to sing the dance tunes herself! From these photos came the “three graces” in the lowest center part of the mural. After the dancing, Ann decided on a field trip to the waterworks mansion, to get some cliff-shots. Three of the women climbed the cliff, and then had to help each other get down. This image, which perfectly represents the way the survivors support each other, is on the far left side of the painting. The title of the mural “Sandy’s Dream” actually came from this outing. Sandy’s dream was that no woman would have to battle ovarian cancer alone. She knew that the best therapy would be the knowledge that we are not alone in this fight. These women are now known as our “band of survivors”, and in the mural’s upper left corner, we can see a portrait of Sandy Rollman herself, carrying a candle to light the way.
Another resonant image, in the upper central part of the mural, came from a wonderful young man who is the Director of Operations at the Mural Arts Program. His mother had been recently diagnosed with ovarian cancer, and he took a picture of her with her grand-daughter, planting a flowering Impatience. Ann felt that planting Impatience, a water-loving plant, in this dry and inhospitable landscape is a strong statement about the optimism and persistence that helps people everywhere continue in times of struggle. Hope is very important, but she was clear that this should not be like a greeting card, in which everything negative is invisible. It is about hope in the face of struggle.
Our scaffolding went up July 18th. It took 2 weeks to prep the wall and grid it. In the beginning several people commented astutely that it was like a giant paint-by-number set, with each square numbered and lettered. This system helps to transfer the composition accurately. The mural is painted in a very classical way. The drawing was done on a terra-cotta toned ground, and was developed through glazing and underpainting, focusing on the form and composition before the detail. Ann has been assisted in the painting by four very fine artists: Gabe Tiberino, Petre Oravetz, Susan Simmons, and Kitty Hankins.
On September 10, 2005, members of the Sandy Rollman Ovarian Cancer Foundation and their families volunteered their time and assisted our wonderful artist . It was a magical day for all. The mural was dedicated on Thursday, September 22, 2005.
Written by Robin Cohen and Ann Northrup
The artist, Ann Northrup, from the Philadelphia Mural Arts Program, is a perfect match because her heart is as great as her talent. The first step in her design process was a meeting with the ovarian cancer survivors in the Sandy Rollman Ovarian Cancer Foundation. The mural would be designed as a response to them. The survivors spoke eloquently about dealing with the diagnosis and the stages they went through, from panic to shock to taking action. They expressed “feeling alone in a crowed room” , but said that a weight was lifted from their hearts when they were with people who “wore the same red badge of courage.” The survivors described a sense of “climbing a ladder into the unknown”. Every aspect of their lives had changed profoundly in a way that would not change back. They spoke of doctors who could give very few answers, even in terms of survival statistics. They all expressed a desire to tell their stories, in the hopes that through increased knowledge and research, no other woman would ever have to go through what they had suffered.
The artist was excited about working with us, because of the opportunity to tell an important, emotional story, a story that might have the power to change peoples’ lives for the better. The design began as a small, semi-abstract landscape. It was a color study, with a swirl of radiant light in the center, and rich, somber color, punctuated with flashes of brilliance, around the edges. Last summer, while painting in California, Ann discovered the perfect landscape to embody her idea, in the Headlands of the Golden Gate. It is very beautiful, but very bleak, with steeply rolling hills, covered by sparse and dry vegetation. Cliffs plummet down to the San Francisco Bay, and frequent heavy fogs roll over the hills to enshroud the cliffs for many days, then blowing away inexplicably in the wind. During the time she was in California, Ann’s mother-in-law passed away. The harshness and unpredictability of the landscape seemed to her a visual metaphor about the impermanence of life on earth, with the stark beauty of nature in harsh contrast to our human needs and feelings. Nature is radiantly beautiful, but it just doesn’t care about us. It doesn’t take sides.
Once the design process was a little further along, we gave feedback to Ann that she had been too successful at creating a dark and somber emotional space, and that she needed to have more positive notes of hope. So she lightened and softened the sky, and invited the group of survivors from the Sandy Rollman Ovarian Cancer Foundation to meet her near the Philadelphia Museum of Art for a photo session. She planned to get them dancing and see if she could get some lively shots. Ann had brought the wrong batteries for her CD player and was forced to sing the dance tunes herself! From these photos came the “three graces” in the lowest center part of the mural. After the dancing, Ann decided on a field trip to the waterworks mansion, to get some cliff-shots. Three of the women climbed the cliff, and then had to help each other get down. This image, which perfectly represents the way the survivors support each other, is on the far left side of the painting. The title of the mural “Sandy’s Dream” actually came from this outing. Sandy’s dream was that no woman would have to battle ovarian cancer alone. She knew that the best therapy would be the knowledge that we are not alone in this fight. These women are now known as our “band of survivors”, and in the mural’s upper left corner, we can see a portrait of Sandy Rollman herself, carrying a candle to light the way.
Another resonant image, in the upper central part of the mural, came from a wonderful young man who is the Director of Operations at the Mural Arts Program. His mother had been recently diagnosed with ovarian cancer, and he took a picture of her with her grand-daughter, planting a flowering Impatience. Ann felt that planting Impatience, a water-loving plant, in this dry and inhospitable landscape is a strong statement about the optimism and persistence that helps people everywhere continue in times of struggle. Hope is very important, but she was clear that this should not be like a greeting card, in which everything negative is invisible. It is about hope in the face of struggle.
Our scaffolding went up July 18th. It took 2 weeks to prep the wall and grid it. In the beginning several people commented astutely that it was like a giant paint-by-number set, with each square numbered and lettered. This system helps to transfer the composition accurately. The mural is painted in a very classical way. The drawing was done on a terra-cotta toned ground, and was developed through glazing and underpainting, focusing on the form and composition before the detail. Ann has been assisted in the painting by four very fine artists: Gabe Tiberino, Petre Oravetz, Susan Simmons, and Kitty Hankins.
On September 10, 2005, members of the Sandy Rollman Ovarian Cancer Foundation and their families volunteered their time and assisted our wonderful artist . It was a magical day for all. The mural was dedicated on Thursday, September 22, 2005.
Written by Robin Cohen and Ann Northrup
Symptoms of ovarian cancer : Johanna’s Law
Every 6.4 minutes, a woman in the U.S. is diagnosed with a form of gynecologic cancer such as ovarian or uterine cancer. This year, 28,000 American women are expected to die from these cancers. In the last ten years alone, over 250,000 of our mothers, sisters, daughters, aunts, and dear friends have lost their lives to these diseases.
This is a national tragedy magnified by the fact that the most common gynecologic cancers --- ovarian, uterine, and cervical cancer --- have 5-year survival rates exceeding 90 percent when diagnosed at their earliest stages. Unfortunately, thousands of women in the U.S. every year are diagnosed after their cancers have progressed to more advanced stages when survival rates are far lower.
Johanna’s Law: The Gynecologic Cancer Education and Awareness Act aims to change this deadly status quo. Sponsored by Representatives Rosa DeLauro (D-CN), Kay Granger (R-TX), Darrell Issa (R-CA), and Sander Levin (D-MI) and endorsed by organizations representing over 300,000 physicians, nurses, cancer survivors and women, Johanna’s Law would create a federal campaign of gynecologic cancer education designed to improve early detection.
Johanna’s Law is named after my sister Johanna Silver Gordon, a dynamic woman and former schoolteacher, who lost her life to ovarian cancer. Despite being a health conscious woman who visited the gynecologist regularly, Johanna did not know the symptoms of ovarian cancer until after she was diagnosed with an advanced stage of the disease. Not knowing the symptoms contributed to a delay in her diagnosis.
Tragically, Johanna’s story is all too common. Thousands of women in the U.S. each year are stunned not only to be diagnosed with a gynecologic cancer --- but to learn that the symptoms they experienced prior to their diagnoses were common symptoms of these cancers. A pervasive lack of knowledge about gynecologic cancer symptoms commonly leads to lengthy delays in diagnosis as women are evaluated for and/or diagnosed with various non-lethal conditions before the correct diagnosis is made.
Johanna’s Law seeks to end the life-threatening information gap that has led to so much suffering and so many deaths. By educating America’s women about gynecologic cancer symptoms and risk factors, Johanna’s Law can help women experiencing symptoms seek appropriate medical help quickly, increasing the potential for earlier detection. Women possessing risk factors can take steps to lower their risk. By also devoting resources to educating physicians, Johanna’s Law will enhance the limited exposure to gynecologic cancer patients most physicians receive during their training, making it more likely gynecologic cancers will be considered as possible causes of certain symptoms, along with the less lethal conditions so often assumed to cause them.
Over 100 members of the U.S. House of Representatives have already decided to co-sponsor Johanna’s Law. More co-sponsors are needed, however, to give Johanna’s Law the best chance of passing this year.
Please join this important effort to save women’s lives by asking your member of the House to co-sponsor Johanna’s Law. With just the tools at your fingertips --- the telephone, fax, or computer --- you can play a critical role in bringing life-saving facts to millions of women at risk for gynecologic cancers.
How better to honor the hundreds of thousands of American women lost to these cancers and the courage of those still struggling to survive them? How better to exercise the freedoms of this democracy than by making your voice heard on Capitol Hill?
Sheryl Silver, Founder/President
Johanna’s Law Alliance for Women’s Cancer Awareness
This is a national tragedy magnified by the fact that the most common gynecologic cancers --- ovarian, uterine, and cervical cancer --- have 5-year survival rates exceeding 90 percent when diagnosed at their earliest stages. Unfortunately, thousands of women in the U.S. every year are diagnosed after their cancers have progressed to more advanced stages when survival rates are far lower.
Johanna’s Law: The Gynecologic Cancer Education and Awareness Act aims to change this deadly status quo. Sponsored by Representatives Rosa DeLauro (D-CN), Kay Granger (R-TX), Darrell Issa (R-CA), and Sander Levin (D-MI) and endorsed by organizations representing over 300,000 physicians, nurses, cancer survivors and women, Johanna’s Law would create a federal campaign of gynecologic cancer education designed to improve early detection.
Johanna’s Law is named after my sister Johanna Silver Gordon, a dynamic woman and former schoolteacher, who lost her life to ovarian cancer. Despite being a health conscious woman who visited the gynecologist regularly, Johanna did not know the symptoms of ovarian cancer until after she was diagnosed with an advanced stage of the disease. Not knowing the symptoms contributed to a delay in her diagnosis.
Tragically, Johanna’s story is all too common. Thousands of women in the U.S. each year are stunned not only to be diagnosed with a gynecologic cancer --- but to learn that the symptoms they experienced prior to their diagnoses were common symptoms of these cancers. A pervasive lack of knowledge about gynecologic cancer symptoms commonly leads to lengthy delays in diagnosis as women are evaluated for and/or diagnosed with various non-lethal conditions before the correct diagnosis is made.
Johanna’s Law seeks to end the life-threatening information gap that has led to so much suffering and so many deaths. By educating America’s women about gynecologic cancer symptoms and risk factors, Johanna’s Law can help women experiencing symptoms seek appropriate medical help quickly, increasing the potential for earlier detection. Women possessing risk factors can take steps to lower their risk. By also devoting resources to educating physicians, Johanna’s Law will enhance the limited exposure to gynecologic cancer patients most physicians receive during their training, making it more likely gynecologic cancers will be considered as possible causes of certain symptoms, along with the less lethal conditions so often assumed to cause them.
Over 100 members of the U.S. House of Representatives have already decided to co-sponsor Johanna’s Law. More co-sponsors are needed, however, to give Johanna’s Law the best chance of passing this year.
Please join this important effort to save women’s lives by asking your member of the House to co-sponsor Johanna’s Law. With just the tools at your fingertips --- the telephone, fax, or computer --- you can play a critical role in bringing life-saving facts to millions of women at risk for gynecologic cancers.
How better to honor the hundreds of thousands of American women lost to these cancers and the courage of those still struggling to survive them? How better to exercise the freedoms of this democracy than by making your voice heard on Capitol Hill?
Sheryl Silver, Founder/President
Johanna’s Law Alliance for Women’s Cancer Awareness
Symptoms of ovarian cancer : About Ovarian Cancer
Do you recognize some of the common symptoms of ovarian cancer?
Pressure or bloating in your abdomen
Constant and progressive changes in bowel or bladder patterns
Persistent digestive problems
Ongoing excessive fatigue
Abnormal bleeding
Pain during inercourse
Ovarian cancer symptoms are often subtle and easily confused with symptoms for other disorders. Frequently, women don't recognize the symptoms, and too often doctors lack sufficient awareness to effectively diagnose the disease. The tragic result is that too many women never have a chance against ovarian cancer.
Ovarian cancer is a serious and under-recognized threat to women's health.
Ovarian cancer, the deadliest of the gynecologic cancers, is the fifth leading cause of cancer death among U.S. women.
Ovarian cancer occurs in 1 in 57 women, up from 1 in 70 women several years ago.
An estimated 14,500 American women will die from ovarian cancer in 1999 and more than 25,200 new cases will be diagnosed this year.
Currently, 50% of the women diagnosed with ovarian cancer die from it within five years; among African American women, only 46% survive five years or more.
Ovarian cancer is very treatable when it is detected early, but the vast majority of cases are not diagnosed until it is too late.
In cases where ovarian cancer is detected before it has spread beyond the ovaries, over 91% of women will survive longer than five years.
Only 24% of ovarian cancer cases in the U.S. are diagnosed in the beginning stages.
When diagnosed in the late stages, the chance of five year survival is only 24-28%.
Ovarian cancer may be difficult to diagnose both because symptoms are vague and easily confused with other diseases, and because there is no reliable, simple to administer screening tool.
Raising public awareness of ovarian cancer by educating doctors and women about the disease could save lives.
Many people do not know that ovarian cancer often presents with symptoms that include abdominal pressure or bloating, constant and progressive changes in bowel or bladder patterns, persistent digestive problems, excessive fatigue, abnormal bleeding and pain during intercourse.
Early recognition of symptoms is the best way to save women's lives. Without increased education about ovarian cancer, many women and their doctors will continue to ignore or misinterpret the symptoms of the disease.
Recognition of women who are at heightened risk for developing ovarian cancer is also key. Risk factors include: increasing age, personal or family history of ovarian, breast or colon cancer, and not bearing a child.
More ovarian cancer research is needed — to develop early detection tools, better therapies, cures and to prevent the disease.
No one knows what causes ovarian cancer or how to prevent it.
Very little is known about key scientific aspects of the disease.
90% of women who get ovarian cancer do not have any of the known risk factors.
There is no reliable and easy to administer screening test like the Pap Smear for cervical cancer and the mammogram for breast cancer.
Ovarian cancer research is drastically underfunded. The National Cancer Institute spent only $41 million last year on ovarian cancer research.
Although one third as many women die of ovarian cancer as die of breast cancer, NCI spent only one eighth as much money for ovarian cancer as for breast cancer research last year.
Until there is a test, AWARENESS is best.
Copyright © 1993-2006
CONVERSATIONS!The International Ovarian Cancer Connection
All Rights Reserved. ISSN: 1533-1334
Pressure or bloating in your abdomen
Constant and progressive changes in bowel or bladder patterns
Persistent digestive problems
Ongoing excessive fatigue
Abnormal bleeding
Pain during inercourse
Ovarian cancer symptoms are often subtle and easily confused with symptoms for other disorders. Frequently, women don't recognize the symptoms, and too often doctors lack sufficient awareness to effectively diagnose the disease. The tragic result is that too many women never have a chance against ovarian cancer.
Ovarian cancer is a serious and under-recognized threat to women's health.
Ovarian cancer, the deadliest of the gynecologic cancers, is the fifth leading cause of cancer death among U.S. women.
Ovarian cancer occurs in 1 in 57 women, up from 1 in 70 women several years ago.
An estimated 14,500 American women will die from ovarian cancer in 1999 and more than 25,200 new cases will be diagnosed this year.
Currently, 50% of the women diagnosed with ovarian cancer die from it within five years; among African American women, only 46% survive five years or more.
Ovarian cancer is very treatable when it is detected early, but the vast majority of cases are not diagnosed until it is too late.
In cases where ovarian cancer is detected before it has spread beyond the ovaries, over 91% of women will survive longer than five years.
Only 24% of ovarian cancer cases in the U.S. are diagnosed in the beginning stages.
When diagnosed in the late stages, the chance of five year survival is only 24-28%.
Ovarian cancer may be difficult to diagnose both because symptoms are vague and easily confused with other diseases, and because there is no reliable, simple to administer screening tool.
Raising public awareness of ovarian cancer by educating doctors and women about the disease could save lives.
Many people do not know that ovarian cancer often presents with symptoms that include abdominal pressure or bloating, constant and progressive changes in bowel or bladder patterns, persistent digestive problems, excessive fatigue, abnormal bleeding and pain during intercourse.
Early recognition of symptoms is the best way to save women's lives. Without increased education about ovarian cancer, many women and their doctors will continue to ignore or misinterpret the symptoms of the disease.
Recognition of women who are at heightened risk for developing ovarian cancer is also key. Risk factors include: increasing age, personal or family history of ovarian, breast or colon cancer, and not bearing a child.
More ovarian cancer research is needed — to develop early detection tools, better therapies, cures and to prevent the disease.
No one knows what causes ovarian cancer or how to prevent it.
Very little is known about key scientific aspects of the disease.
90% of women who get ovarian cancer do not have any of the known risk factors.
There is no reliable and easy to administer screening test like the Pap Smear for cervical cancer and the mammogram for breast cancer.
Ovarian cancer research is drastically underfunded. The National Cancer Institute spent only $41 million last year on ovarian cancer research.
Although one third as many women die of ovarian cancer as die of breast cancer, NCI spent only one eighth as much money for ovarian cancer as for breast cancer research last year.
Until there is a test, AWARENESS is best.
Copyright © 1993-2006
CONVERSATIONS!The International Ovarian Cancer Connection
All Rights Reserved. ISSN: 1533-1334
ovarian cancer : Few women know ovarian-cancer risk factors
Only 15 percent of U.S. women are familiar with ovarian-cancer symptoms, and 82 percent have never discussed it with their doctors, a survey finds.
The national survey sponsored by the National Ovarian Cancer Coalition finds 54 percent of the women who have not spoken to their doctors about ovarian cancer do not think it's an issue because the doctor never initiated the discussion.
Fifty-nine percent of women have talked to their doctor about breast cancer, compared to only 18 percent of women who have talked to their doctor about ovarian cancer.
Forty percent of the women are not sure of the risk factors, and many incorrectly identified the use of high-dose estrogen without progesterone and extended use of the birth-control pill as risk factors.
In fact, women who have used oral contraceptives for three or more years have about a 30-percent to 50-percent lower risk of developing ovarian cancer.
Sixty-seven percent of women incorrectly believe that a yearly Pap test is effective in the diagnosis of ovarian cancer.
© Copyright 2006 United Press International, Inc. All Rights Reserved
posted by dragon fly at 12:56 AM comments
The national survey sponsored by the National Ovarian Cancer Coalition finds 54 percent of the women who have not spoken to their doctors about ovarian cancer do not think it's an issue because the doctor never initiated the discussion.
Fifty-nine percent of women have talked to their doctor about breast cancer, compared to only 18 percent of women who have talked to their doctor about ovarian cancer.
Forty percent of the women are not sure of the risk factors, and many incorrectly identified the use of high-dose estrogen without progesterone and extended use of the birth-control pill as risk factors.
In fact, women who have used oral contraceptives for three or more years have about a 30-percent to 50-percent lower risk of developing ovarian cancer.
Sixty-seven percent of women incorrectly believe that a yearly Pap test is effective in the diagnosis of ovarian cancer.
© Copyright 2006 United Press International, Inc. All Rights Reserved
posted by dragon fly at 12:56 AM comments
