9 things you didn’t know about ovarian cancer

By Maria Kyriacou

9 things you didn’t know about ovarian cancer
Given the alarming increase in ovarian cancer, we take a look at new things you may not know about the disease.

Current stats regarding Women’s Cancers according to The New Zealand Gynaecological Cancer Foundation make for pretty grim reading and suggest these cancers are on the increase. Consider these 9 things you didn’t know about ovarian cancer, and how you can better educate yourself, because early detection can save lives.

Things you didn’t know about ovarian cancer

  1. The five main gynecological cancers are: Cervical; Ovarian cancer; Endometrial (sometimes referred to as Uterine); Vulval and Vaginal.
  2. 3 women are diagnosed with a gynecological cancer every day in New Zealand.
  3. 1000 women are diagnosed a year.
  4. New Zealand alone loses one grandmother, mother, sister, aunt to gynecological cancer every day.
  5. Though gynaecological cancers are not common cancers, they do take the lives of more than 350 New Zealand Women each year. Ovarian cancer causes around 190 of these deaths.
  6. More and more younger women are getting diagnosed: The New Zealand Gynaecological Cancer Foundation recently had a 20-year-old get in touch with the organisation advising that she was diagnosed at age 13.
  7. According to an article published in FASEB Journal, a relatively new method of treatment uses a portion of a naturally occurring protein to reduce the formation of new blood vessels that tumors need to grow while simultaneously improving chemotherapy effectiveness.
  8. Patchwork Ovarian Cancer is more deadly: A UK study published in PLOS Medicine found that the Serous type of ovarian cancers containing a variety of genetically-different cells were more likely to become resistant to treatment and return again than cancers made of more similar cells.
  9. Menopausal women who take HRT, even for short periods have a higher risk of developing Ovarian Cancer according to a new study by the Collaborative Group on Epidemiological Studies of Ovarian Cancer. The findings showed the risk arose with fewer than five years of use, despite the established idea that shorter use was safer. This has worldwide implications for the revision of guidelines on the use of HRT.

If you are concerned about your own wellbeing and worried you may be at risk, be sure to know these ovarian cancer signs.

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