March is UK Ovarian Cancer Awareness Month. (It's September in the US.) This year, approximately 14,000 women will be killed by this dread disease. While screening tests have reduced the death rates from other cancer, the same cannot be said for ovarian ca ncer. The search for the appropriate screening regimen for most women remains elusive.
Newer technologies may yet impact on the detection rate. Recently, investigators from MD Anderson Cancer Center reported on a new wrinkle in a commonly utilized blood test, the CA125. What they found was that rather than a specific trigger value, the rate of change over time is a better predictor of risk.
While ovarian cancer is thought to be a "silent killer," this may be a misconception. Another development is a report that Symptom Triggered Screening may reveal many women with early stages of the disease whi le reduce unnecessary surgeries. Anderson et al found that frequent pelvic or abdominal pain, bloating, or feeling of fullness while/after eating of relatively recent onset warrants further investigation and may be life-saving. CA125 blood test and a vaginal ultrasound (a regular bimanual pelvic exam is less able to find abnormalities) would be reasonable diagnostic investigations. Again, often it is the rate of change of CA125 that is most diagnostic.
Some women with BRCA1 gene mutations are at extremely high risk and should consider Risk Reductive Surgery.
There are also reports that an aspirin a day can keep the oncologist away. Daily low dose aspirin may reduce ovarian cancer risk by up to 20&.
Hopefully one day soon, we will make real progress in reducing the toll of ovarian cancer.
For more info, feel free to leave a message in the comments section. To schedule an appointment for an ultrasound in the NYC are, call (718) 925-6277. We are all in this together.
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