Ovarian Cancer: What All Women Need to Know
Ovarian cancer is a killer disease.
• It is the deadliest of all gynecologic cancers and the fifth leading cause of cancer deaths among American women.
• One in 71 women will be diagnosed with ovarian cancer during their lifetime.
• More than 21,000 American women will be diagnosed with ovarian cancer each year.
• More than 15,000 American women died from the disease in 2008. Early detection greatly increases survival.
• Ovarian cancer is difficult to diagnose because symptoms are often subtle and easily confused with other conditions.
• When ovarian cancer is detected before it has spread beyond the ovaries, nine out of 10 women will survive for more than five years. However, only 19% of ovarian cancer cases in the United States are diagnosed at this early stage.
• Approximately 67% of ovarian cancer cases are diagnosed at an advanced stage after the cancer has spread beyond the ovaries.
• The overall five-year survival rate is approximately 46%. Learn ovarian cancer’s subtle symptoms.
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Excellent! Now every woman reading this article should send it to her sisters, friends and associates. Until there's a test for this disease, education about the symptoms is the best defense. Help spread the word!
Stage 1c OvC survivor diagnosed 1/2005
Thanks for this article. We focus so much on breast cancer that we forget there are other female specific cancers that also need our attention and funding. It's just as important to get your annual pap smear as your mammogram.
Unfortunately, Pap smears are not used in diagnosing ovarian cancer. They are for cervical cancer. The only diagnostic methods for ovarian cancer in general use are CA-125 (a blood test) and transvaginal ultrasound, but they are not so great at finding ovarian cancer, and they are not recommended as a screening test because they don't work well enough.
I attended the Ovarian Cancer walk today with my EmpowHer team and my 14 year old daughter. As I was driving there today I was trying explain to my daughter why this is such a deadly form of cancer but did not know the symptoms. Your post answered that question-Many thanks! I am going to make Ovarian Cancer Research one of my key charities, as I am sad to hear the funding for this cancer is far below where it needs to be. Some one has to come up with better tests to diagnose this disease earlier.
Thanks for organizations like Ovarian Cancer National Alliance