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CancerSmart Web Cast May 3, 2007 -- Drs. Carol Brown, Nadeem Abu-Rustum, and Paul Sabbatini present, "What You Should Know About the Screening and Treatment of Gynecologic Cancers."
Run time: 71 minutes. |
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When ovarian cancer is diagnosed early, before it has spread (called stage IA disease), the long-term survival rate exceeds 95 percent. The majority of women with stage IA disease are cured with surgery alone. The problem is that there are no effective methods currently available to screen for epithelial ovarian cancer in the general population so many patients are diagnosed with more-advanced disease.
Having an annual gynecologic pelvic examination will increase the likelihood that an ovarian tumor is discovered, but small ovarian tumors are difficult to detect. The Pap test, performed during the annual pelvic exam, can detect precancers years before cervical cancer develops, but unfortunately is not an effective test for finding ovarian cancer.
For these reasons, identifying an accurate method to detect early-stage ovarian cancer could improve cure rates significantly, saving thousands of women's lives each year.
If a woman experiences any new symptoms -- such as bloating, pelvic or abdominal pain, difficulty eating or feeling full quickly, or urinary symptoms (urgency or frequency) -- on a daily basis for more than two to three weeks, she should be checked by a healthcare professional. For more information on the symptoms of ovarian cancer, visit that section of this cancer information overview.
