Ovarian Cancer

Some cancers are more deadly than others. Ovarian is one of the deadly ones. For eons now, ovarian cancer has been thought to be virtually symptomless, until things had progressed so far, little could be done except palliative care.

Among women in the United States, ovarian cancer is the seventh most common cancer and the fifth leading cause of cancer death.

Now, thanks to advances in therapy, ovarian cancer is becoming a chronic disease. It is no longer an automatic death sentence. Besides therapy, attention is now also being drawn to initial symptoms which may indicate a need for further testing.

The ovaries are part of a woman's reproductive system. They are in the pelvis. Each ovary is about the size of an almond.

The ovaries make the female hormones - estrogen and progesterone. They also release eggs. An egg travels from an ovary through a fallopian tube to the womb (uterus).

When a woman goes through her "change of life" (menopause), her ovaries stop releasing eggs and make far lower levels of hormones.

The majority of people acknowledge and sympathize with Elizabeth Edwards, wife of the presidential candidate, John Edwards. Hers is the story of successful recovery from the primary breast cancer, only to wake up a few years later to find out the cancer had metastasized to her bone and to her liver. We have additionally learned that although the metastasized cancer can be treated, there no longer is any hope of cure.

Tumors found in the ovaries may be non-cancerous tissue growths (cysts) or cancerous growths that may spread to other parts of the body.

About 1 in every 57 women in the United States will develop ovarian cancer. Most cases occur in women over the age of 50, but this disease can also affect younger women. Ovarian cancer causes more deaths than any other cancer of the female reproductive system. The sooner ovarian cancer is found and treated, the better a woman's chance for recovery. But ovarian cancer is hard to detect early. Many times, women with ovarian cancer have no symptoms or just mild symptoms until the disease is in an advanced stage.

According to the Mayo Clinic, ovarian cancer is staged from I through IV, which indicates earliest to most advanced. Staging is determined at the time of surgical evaluation of the disease:

• Stage I. Ovarian cancer is confined to one or both of the ovaries.

Ovarian cancer occurs when cells grow in an uncontrolled, abnormal manner and produce tumors in one or both ovaries.

Ovarian cancer is the fifth most common cancer in women. It's diagnosed in more than 25,000 women in the United States each year, and about 16,000 women die of the disease annually.