Australian researchers refute what doctors believed until now: ovarian cancer has a swift and aggressive development, even if detected and treated early.
Even if women detect and treat ovarian cancer early, the chances of survival remain low, informs a new study published in the “Journal of Clinical Oncology”.
The study was conducted on a group of 1,500 women suffering from ovarian cancer, between 2002 – 2005. The volunteers were asked what were the symptoms of the disease, after how long time they have addressed a doctor, and when they were actually diagnosed with cancer.
Most patients “were brought” to the physician by symptoms, only a small percentage of them detected the disease after routine checks or during surgical interventions.
Five-year survival rate of the patients
Women who incidentally detected the cancer before having symptoms, survived an average of four years, one year longer than those who have detected the disease shortly after the first symptoms.
Ovarian cancer acts silent, and when symptoms appear – it is already in advanced stage, experts warn. For these women, it did not matter how fast they acted to fight the disease. 52% of women who were diagnosed in one month after the first symptoms, and also 53% of those with cancer detected after a year, on average survived five years.
Tumors or abnormal formations in the first phase can be detected with ultrasound or a pelvic control. In some countries, this disease can be detected through a blood test that catch a sight of the CA125 gene, responsible for certain types of cancer.
As the disease is rare and the benefits of early detection are unclear, there is no national screening program in U.S.