Ovarian Cancer Article

Jun 28

Ovarian Cancer

Ovarian cancer has been found to be the fifth leading cause of cancer death in women. It is most commonly a primary cancer, meaning it originates in the ovary, but it can also be a secondary cancer, meaning cancer has spread to the ovary from another part of the body that has cancer.

The reasons for the development of ovarian cancer are unknown, meaning it is an idiopathic cancer. However, there are some factors that can lead to a higher risk of developing ovarian cancer. Older women have a higher risk; more than half of the deaths caused by ovarian cancer occur in women over the age of 55 and a quarter of deaths occur in women between the ages of 35 and 54. Risk also increases in industrialized countries, with the exception of Japan. In America, there is a 1 in 40- 60 women lifetime chance of developing ovarian cancer.

There are also some factors that reduce the risk of ovarian cancer. The more children a woman has, the younger she has her first child, the older she has her last child, and low dose hormonal contraception are all shown to reduce the overall risk of ovarian cancer.

Ovarian cancer is difficult to diagnose due to the fact that symptoms are very non-specific and hard to pinpoint to ovarian cancer. It is often very hard to find ovarian cancer in its early stages and is more often found when it has already progressed to later stages. It is most commonly found by a blood test, a pelvic exam, a CT scan, or an ultrasound.

Symptoms, though non-specific, include the following:
Pelvic heaviness
Unplanned weight gain or weight loss
Lower abdominal discomfort
Irregular vaginal bleeding
Abnormal menstrual cycles
Unexplained back pain that worsens over time
Increased abdominal girth
Increased gas
Indigestion
Lack of appetite
Nausea and vomiting
Blood in stool
Inability to ingest your normal volume of food
Bloating
Increased urinary frequency/urgency
Excessive hair growth
Fluid buildup in the lining around the lungs

Treatment once ovarian cancer is found includes surgery and chemotherapy after surgery to remove any remaining cancer.

Ovarian cancer is often incurable and becomes grave because women don’t recognize and get their symptoms treated until the cancer has progressed to its latest stages (About half of women with ovarian cancer were diagnosed when cancer had already advanced). Once in these phases, there is a great chance that the cancer has also spread to other parts of the body.