Earlier this week, I posted about ovarian cancer and preserving fertility among women who are still in their childbearing years (Ovarian Cancer, Young Women & Fertility).
But other than knowing that ovarian cancer is difficult to diagnose and it’s survival rate is not good because of the difficulty diagnosing it in the early stages, how much do you know about it?
Ovarian cancer, one of the gynecological cancers, along with uterine, endometrial, cervical and vaginal cancers, affects mostly women over the age of 50, or post menopause. Younger women do develop ovarian cancer but it’s not as common. While doctors don’t know …read more

The puzzle of how some illnesses affect people of certain ethnic backgrounds differently than others continues to be a target of researchers. The latest study is on how African-American women fare with uterine cancer compared with their white peers. In this case, the findings are not ideal – they are more likely to die from uterine cancer. The study findings were published in the March 15 issue of Cancer. The study, done by Dr. Jason Wright, assistant professor of obstetrics and gynecology at Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons, and colleagues, involved almost over 80,000 women.
According to a press …read more

Whenever a new technology becomes available, there are concerns about other effects it may have. In this case, there were concerns that new fertility drugs, gaining in popularity, could play a role in a woman developing ovarian cancer. This has been hard to investigate because of the theory that women who have difficulty conceiving could be already at a higher risk of developing ovarian cancer – so it would be difficult to tell if it was the infertility or the treatment that caused it.
A new study, published yesterday in the BMJ found that there is no link between the two. …read more

It’s been a given that if a woman has endometrial cancer, part of the surgical treatment is removing the ovaries (an oopherectomy). But, according to a study of over 3000 women under the age of 45 years, published in the online Jan. 26 issue of the Journal of Clinical Oncology, researchers found after five years, there was  no difference in survival rate between  young women with early endometrial cancer who had oopherectomies and those who didn’t.
Endometrial cancer is generally found in women around age 60 years and older, with there being only a 5% rate in women under 40 …read more

When a woman learns that she’s at high risk for developing ovarian cancer – a silent killer because symptoms are rarely noticed in the early stages – she has some decisions to make. One of those decisions is to have a preventative surgery, removing the fallopian tubes and ovaries, called a salpingo-oophorectomy.
For those who decide to go ahead with the surgery, the hope is to eliminate the risk of ovarian cancer altogether. New research has shown, however, that some women still may develop ovarian cancer because when the fallopian tubes and ovaries are removed, there is the potential that some …read more

Among the many studies researchers are doing to understand ovarian cancer risks, some are looking at the relationship between obesity and ovarian cancer.
In a study, published in the most recent issue of the journal CANCER, researchers write that obesity may be a contributing factor to developing the cancer, with hormones playing the deciding factor.
According to a recently issued press release:

To investigate this issue, Dr. Michael F. Leitzmann of the National Cancer Institute and colleagues studied 94,525 U.S. women aged 50 to 71 years over a period of seven years. The researchers documented 303 ovarian cancer cases during this time …read more

I remember working with a writer once, editing her work, as she writing about neck pain caused by disc problems. The uppermost part of the back and the neck are part of the cervical spine. Near the end of the article, she had written something about how the problem could ultimately cause cervical cancer.
When I contacted her to tell her that the cervix and the cervical spine were totally unrelated, she became quite huffy and told me that she was well aware of the difference. The story still gives me a chuckle years later.
Anyway, it’s Cervical Health Awareness Month and …read more

Am I one of the few who reads a headline like this and thinks, wait a minute. Did I really read that? Yes – unfortunately, I did.
Gardasil, a vaccine that protects against certain types of HPV infection, is a recommended vaccine in the US for girls aged 9 to 12 years old. According to statistics, 70% of cervical cancer is caused by two of the strains that are prevented by the Gardasil vaccine. So, for US residents, it’s recommended. As of August 1, 2008, however, all new female immigrants who are between 11 and 26 years old *MUST* receive the …read more

Than anti-PHV vaccine that is being promoted heavily for teen girls should be given to boys too, say many people.
HPV, or human papilloma virus, is responsible for genital warts. Although there are many types of HPV, two are responsible for 70% of cases of cervical cancer in women. Gardasil protects girls and young women against developing four strains of HPV, including the two responsible for most cervical cancers.
The question from many is, if HPV is transmitted from boys to girls, from men to women, then boys should be vaccinated too. While researchers are working on finding out if this type …read more

Please take our Gardasil poll

The controversial Gardasil vaccine, to prevent transmission of four types of human papillomavirus (HPV), two of which cause cervical cancer, has been given a prestigious pharmaceutical award, considered the Nobel prize of the pharma world, the the 2008 International Galien Prize. The prize is given for recognizing and promoting significant advances in pharmaceutical research.
With so many people opposing the vaccine, what do you think about the prize?
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Tags: cancer blog, gardasil, HPV vaccine, cervical cancer, galien prize, international galien prize, pharmaceutical research, human papillomavirus