These include bloating, abdominal or pelvic pain, frequent and/or urgent urination, and difficulty eating because one feels very full very quickly (MedicineNet, 2009). However, these were only agreed upon in 2007 and not all doctors feel that these are the best markers of ovarian cancer (MedicineNet, 2009). A lot of women experience at least the first two of these symptoms quite often during their menstrual cycle, and the others are not that uncommon, either. Women cannot be running to the doctor every time they have one small symptom, but a group of symptoms that appears and is persistent is certainly worth checking out, if only to provide peace of mind for a woman who may be worried about whether she has cancer or something much more benign (MedicineNet, 2009).
Like many other cancers, ovarian cancer does seem to have some genetic link. In other words, if a lot of people in a family have had cancer, of any kind, other people in that family are more likely to have it, too. This means that women with strong family histories of cancer will want to get checkups more often, pay more attention to their bodies and any kinds of symptoms that they have, and get any tests that their doctor feels will help to detect cancer at an earlier stage if it is present. There is only so much that one can do about ovarian cancer, since cancer is not yet a disease that medicine has learned how to prevent (MedicineNet, 2009). Cancer is becoming more and more treatable if it is caught early, however, so paying attention to one's body and any unusual and persistent symptoms is something that everyone should be aware of. This is true of ovarian cancer, and of all other types of cancers, as well.
Surgery is designed to remove as much of the cancer as possible from the ovaries -- they ovaries are often just completely removed -- and from any other organs that the cancer may have invaded. Any cancer cells that cannot be removed can then be treated with radiation and chemotherapy, which is a collection of medications that is given to the patient through an IV (National, 2009). These often cause weight loss, hair loss, and other sickness because they are poisonous to the healthy cells of the body, as well. However, without these treatments the cancer will continue to grow and spread, and the woman will die. Treating the cancer may send it into remission, it may make it go away and not return, or it may just buy some extra time. Either way, most women find these things preferable to simply allowing the cancer to run its course until they pass away from it. As medicine continues to improve, however, the chances of longer survival and remission improve, as do the chances that the cancer will be able to be cured one day, and no more women will have to die from this horrible and painful disease.
References
MedicineNet (2009). Ovarian Cancer. Retrieved from: http://www.medicinenet.com/ovarian_ cancer/article.htm
MedlinePlus (2009). Ovarian Cancer. U.S. National Library of Medicine. Retrieved from: http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/ovariancancer.html
National Cancer Institute (2009). Ovarian Cancer. U.S. National Institutes of Health. Retrieved from: http://www.cancer.gov/cancertopics/types/ovarian/
