If this Washington Post report is to be believed, it seems that the recent death of Coretta Scott King is bringing some much-needed public attention to ovarian cancer.
Before she died last month, Coretta Scott King turned to a Mexican alternative medicine clinic for treatment — never begun — of her stage III ovarian cancer. Whatever her reasons, with that move, the widow of slain civil rights icon Martin Luther King Jr. spotlighted a grim truth, say cancer experts: With even the best mainstream medical care, the odds for fighting advanced cases of the disease are poor.
“Despite the fact that many women [with the disease] are living longer, despite the fact that there are more drugs now that can buy us time, and despite the fact that we are getting closer to a reliable screening test, ovarian cancer is still a deadly and dangerous disease,” said Susan Lowell Butler, executive director of the D.C. Cancer Consortium and co-founder of the Ovarian Cancer National Alliance, an advocacy group.
Ovarian cancer is often called a silent killer because it is so difficult to detect. By the time physical symptoms are felt, the cancer has reached a stage where its usually too late to do anything. In King’s case, she was diagnosed in November and died within two months. My Mom was lucky; she was diagnosed in 1998 and had seven years, and during most of that time the disease was in remission. More often than not, though, it seems like King’s case is the norm.
Ovarian cancer is the seventh most common cancer in women, reports the American Cancer Society (ACS), and the fourth leading cause of cancer death in women. Five-year survival rates for ovarian cancer are 44 percent overall, compared to about 88 percent for breast cancer survivors and 99 percent for prostate cancer survivors, according to the ACS. Most ovarian cancer cases occur after menopause; half are found in women older than 63, according to a booklet developed by the ACS and the National Comprehensive Cancer Network. King was 78.
And why is it so hard to detect ? Because there really isn’t a reliable test:
One reason ovarian cancer statistics are so discouraging is that a reliable screening method for the disease doesn’t exist. A blood test called CA-125, which identifies some ovarian cancer patients, has flaws and can involve many false positive results, experts said. A transvaginal ultrasound, often ordered when an ovarian tumor is suspected, may not detect small but still potentially dangerous growths. But experts are hopeful that proteomics — a sophisticated blood test in which protein fragments are analyzed to see if a pattern exists that is predictive of ovarian cancer — might one day prove accurate enough to warrant widespread use
Yeah, well, that test was being talked about back in 1998 and it still hasn’t made it out of the trial stage.
As with all other forms of cancer, though, early detection is the key:
When cancer is diagnosed and treated before it spreads outside of the ovary, the five-year survival rate jumps to 90 to 95 percent, but only 19 percent of ovarian cancers are found at that early stage.
There’s some good research going on, but not enough. And not enough people seem to be aware of this killer. Maybe things will start to change now.
I will admit that there are times that I get frustrated by the attention in the media that diseases like breast cancer and prostate cancer have gotten, while ovarian cancer remains not only silent but unknown. It’s great that attention has been paid to these diseases to the point where survival rates have improved significantly. After watching what my Mom had to deal with for almost 7 years, though, I’d just like the same attention to be paid to this killer.
Technorati Tags: Ovarian Cancer, Cancer, Cancer Treatment
