Today is World Ovarian Cancer day, let’s join in to increase the awareness and save lives.

World Ovarian Cancer day is celebrated on May 8^th each year to save lives by increasing the awareness about this deadly disease.

Ovarian cancer has got the lowest survival rate and often diagnosed at very late stage among all gynecological malignancies. Ovarian Cancer day was first celebrated on May 8th, 2013 when cancer organization all around the world came together to educate the women about symptoms and signs of this malignancy.

Some facts about Ovarian Cancer:

Ovarian cancer is the seventh most common cancer in women worldwide (18 most common cancer overall), with 239,000 new cases diagnosed in 2012.

It is responsible for 140,000 deaths each year. Statistics show that just 45% of women with ovarian cancer are likely to survive for five years compared to up to 89% of women with breast cancer.

Fiji had the highest rate of ovarian cancer, followed by Latvia and Bulgaria.

The five-year prevalence of women globally living with ovarian cancer is 22.6 per 100,000.

Risk factors for developing ovarian cancer:

Age > 55 years, family history, known carrier of abnormalities in the BRCA1 or BRCA2 genes, Nulliparity, never taken the contraceptive pill, long reproductive life span (early menarche and late menopause) and history of endometriosis.

Screening:

There is no “standard” screening test for asymptomatic, low-risk patients, and the only patient populations that should be recommended for ovarian cancer screening are patients with known BRCA germline mutations and women with family members who have had ovarian cancer or breast cancer.

Two common screening tests for high-risk patients include pelvic ultrasound and checking CA 125 levels. But CA 125 is elevated in only 50 percent of stage I ovarian cancers, and many other conditions can falsely elevate the levels, including endometriosis, liver disease and post abdominal surgery. Following a positive screening test, a diagnostic test is required. False positive tests lead to an increase in complications compared to usual follow up. In fact, there are no studies that show screening for ovarian cancer improves survival.

Symptoms:

Ovarian cancer does not have any early symptoms. Often the symptoms are common to other less serious conditions and are often overlooked.

Awareness about risk factors and family/genetic history is the key to clinch the diagnosis at early stage.

If a women experiences following symptoms on most days within a three-week period, she should be investigated: Change in bowel habits, frequent bloating, feeling full very quickly, abdominal or pelvic pain and increased urgency/frequency of urination.

Check out this excellent video by AstraZeneca on World Ovarian Cancer Day.