Ovarian Cancer: Fast Facts
Reviewed By:
Martin E. Liebling, M.D., FACP
- More than 21,000 new cases of ovarian cancer will be diagnosed
in the United States in 2008, according to the American Cancer
Society (ACS). Of those cases, more than 15,000 women will die from
the disease.
- Among women in the United States, ovarian cancer is the eighth
most common cancer and the fifth leading cause of cancer
death.
- A woman's chance of getting ovarian cancer in her lifetime is
roughly 1 in 71, according to the ACS.
- The number of cases of ovarian cancer has been falling slowly
for the past 20 years.
- Most cases of ovarian cancer occur in women over the age of 50.
However, it can develop in younger women as well. Women over age 60
have the highest incidence of ovarian cancer.
- A women's chance of developing ovarian cancer increases if she
has a mother, sister or daughter who has been diagnosed with the
disease. Women with a history of breast, endometrial or colon
cancer also have a higher risk.
- Having children and using oral contraceptives can reduce a
women's risk of ovarian cancer.
- Women who use birth control pills for five years or more have a
50 percent lower risk of developing ovarian cancer.
- Women who have their fallopian tubes surgically "tied" (tubal
ligation) reduce their risk of developing ovarian cancer by up to
67 percent. Having a hysterectomy can also reduce a women's ovarian
cancer risk.
- Only about 20 percent of all ovarian cancers are diagnosed at
an early stage. Difficulty in early detection contributes to
ovarian cancer causing more deaths than any other cancer of the
female reproductive system.
- Surgery and chemotherapy are the main treatments for ovarian
cancer. In some women, radiation therapy may be used as a treatment
option.
- Survival from ovarian cancer varies with when the cancer is
first detected. In general, 75 percent of all women with ovarian
cancer survive one year after diagnosis and 45 percent survive
longer than five years after diagnosis.
- The stage of ovarian cancer indicates the extent of the cancer
or how widespread it is in the body. Ovarian cancer is staged from
I to IV, and the lower the stage, the better the prognosis.
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