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Archive for the ‘Ovarian Cancer’ Category

Ovarian cancer is cancer that begins in your ovaries. Only women have ovaries, so only women get this kind of cancer.

Many types of tumors can start growing in the ovaries. Some are benign, meaning they are noncancerous. Benign tumors do not spread and can be treated by removing one ovary, or part of the ovary. Ovarian cancer, however, is a cancerous tumor. If a cancerous tumor is not treated, it can spread to other parts of the body. To better understand what is happening inside you, it will help you to understand the basic anatomy of the ovaries.

Epithelial tumors

Epithelial tumors occur in the epithelium, which is the tissue that covers the outside of the ovary. About 90% of ovarian cancers are of this type. The risk of epithelial ovarian cancer increases with age and occurs mostly in women over 60, but it can develop at any age.

There are several types of epithelial cancers of the ovary. They include:

• serous

• mucinous

• endometrioid

• clear cell

• undifferentiated or unclassifiable.

Germ Cell Tumor.

These types of tumors develop in the egg-producing tissue. Approximately 5 percent of women with ovarian cancer have germ cell tumors. This cancer type usually occurs in teenage girls and young women and is effectively treated when it is detected in the incipient stages.

There are 2 Germ Cell Tumour

Endodermal sinus tumor: This is a rare type of tumor that develops in girls and young women. It is characterized by a rapid growth process and can spread quickly. Chemotherapy is the most effective treatment option for this type of germ cell tumor.

Choriocarcinoma: This is another rare type of cancerous tumor that develops in the placenta during pregnancy. Choriocarcinomas can grow and spread rapidly. The most effective treatment option for this type of tumor is chemotherapy.

Stromal tumors.

These tumors develop in the estrogen- and progesterone-producing tissue that holds the ovary together.

Borderline Ovarian Cancers

Borderline ovarian cancers may be composed of serous, clear cell, endometrioid or mucinous material, but spread slowly and have a high cure rate. Ten to fifteen percent of epithelial cases are borderline, and they develop most often between the ages of thirty and eighty. In most cases, surgical removal is enough to cure a borderline growth.

Serous Tumors

Forty percent of epithelial tumors are serous growths. Serous cells produce a thin, watery fluid. Serous growths may be benign (serous cystadenoma), or malignant (serous cystadenocarcinoma). Fifty percent of such growths are malignant. Women between the ages of forty and sixty are most likely to develop serous tumors.

Treatment

Local therapy: Surgery and radiation therapy are local therapies. They remove or destroy ovarian cancer in the pelvis. When ovarian cancer has spread to other parts of the body, local therapy may be used to control the disease in those specific areas.

Surgery — The first step in treating ovarian cancer usually involves surgical removal of as much cancerous tissue as possible (called optimal surgical debulking or optimal cytoreduction). Optimal surgical debulking impacts the woman’s prognosis (cancer outcome) it also influences the choice of chemotherapy treatment as well. A woman is more likely to have optimal cytoreduction if her initial surgery is performed by a gynecologic oncologist, a specialist in cancers of the female reproductive system. This topic is addressed elsewhere.

Cancer chemotherapy is a treatment which utilizes drugs to destroy cancer cells. This treatment is mostly given after surgery. The drugs destroy these cancer cells by preventing them from rapidly growing or dividing. However some of the normal cells are also destroyed in this process. Besides these, ovarian cancers are mostly utilized by using a combination of various treatments such as surgery, radiation and chemotherapy.

In most of the cases, there are chances of reoccurrence of this cancer in the body. Chemotherapy treatment is opted for only those individuals who are at the low grade or at an early stage of the disease after surgery. The different types of ovarian cancer such as stromal cell, epithelial and germ cell are treated by using chemotherapy.

This treatment is done by opting for the different methods of administering chemotherapy such as intraperitoneal chemotherapy and intravenous chemotherapy. These are given in combination of different drugs which help in increasing the survival rates. These treatments are given in hospital, clinic or home. Some women prefer to stay and take the treatment in hospital.

This treatment is given in cycles. The treatment is always followed by a rest period. The length of the rest period and cycles are determined by the type of drugs utilized in the treatment.

These cancers are sensitive to the chemotherapy treatment and in most of the cases will respond well in the beginning of the treatment. In the beginning of the chemotherapy treatment some standardized drugs are utilized in a combination.

The side effects of the chemotherapy treatment depend on factors such as the patient, its dose and the drug administered. However, there are some common side effects of using chemotherapy treatment which are described below:

* Temporary hair loss
* Anemia
* Depression
* Decrease the number of platelets which may result in bleeding
* Weight loss
* Nausea, vomiting and diarrhea

There are some long-term side effects also such as damage to the kidney or liver, bone marrow damage, hearing loss, infertility, allergic reactions, etc. which are life threatening and risk for getting other cancers are increased.

However, you can consult a doctor and take some medicines which will help to destroy the side effects of chemotherapy. The doctor will also clear all your queries related to the ovarian cancer. Majority of the side effects last only till the treatment lasts.

Thus information about the chemotherapy treatment for ovarian cancer is described. It also informs about the side effects of this treatment also.

Cancer that begins in the ovaries or the fallopian tubes is called ovarian cancer. The risk of ovarian cancer rises with age. More than 50 % of deaths due to ovarian caner occur in women between 55 and 74, and about a 25 % in women between 35 and 54. Ovarian cancer has been termed the ‘Silent Killer’ even in medical textbooks because there are no symptoms until a considerably advanced stage of the disease. Recent studies, however, show that though there are no symptoms that are characteristic to ovarian cancer, the following warning signs manifest a few months before the cancer is detected:

Pelvic, abdominal, or back pain

Weight gain or weight loss

Unusual vaginal bleeding or discharge (heavy menstrual flow or menopausal bleeding)

Discomfort during sex

Frequent or intense need to urinate; burning sensation or spasms while urinating

Feeling full even though you haven’t eaten much

Vague gastro-intestinal problems, like gas, indigestion, loss of appetite, bloating, nausea and vomiting, bloody stool, prolonged constipation or diarrhoea

Unexplained increase in waistline

Shortness of breath

Fatigue

If you experience any of the above symptoms over two or three weeks and if it gets worse with time, you should get yourself tested for ovarian cancer. As these symptoms could be associated with any other disease or minor ailment, it is impossible to diagnose ovarian cancer on their merit alone. The doctor will conduct a pelvic exam, an abdominal or vaginal ultrasound, and a blood test to check for the presence of CA 125. None of these tests are conclusive in themselves. But, a positive count on two or more of the tests should be followed by a biopsy (laparotomy) or a laparoscopy to rule out or diagnose ovarian cancer.

A very small percentage of women facing these symptoms are diagnosed with the dreaded disease. And sometimes, women can reach the very last stages of cancer with no symptoms at all. The best you can do is to maintain a healthy lifestyle and undergo an annual examination to catch the cancer before it metastasizes.

Ovarian cancer varies in seriousness from slow growing to aggressively invasive. They may be solid, fluid-filled or a combination of both. Ovarian tumors may be primarily cystic, solid, or mixed. This cancer is difficult to detect because it remains symptomless until fairly late in the disease process. Symptoms associated with ovarian cancer are very non-specific and by the time a patient develops these symptoms, the ovarian cancer has frequently spread to distant sites. There are ways to test for the presence of ovarian cancer. This includes blood tests and ultrasound. Let us see what does ovarian cancer look like on an ultrasound. The ultrasound examination you are advised may be an abdominal ultrasound or a transvaginal ultrasound. Both types of ultrasound tests may be used to help diagnose ovarian cancer. It can help to show whether the ovaries are normal in size. The ultrasound also tells us if the ovaries have a normal surface texture and whether there are cysts within the ovaries. The ultrasound can help to show whether a cyst has any solid areas as it is more likely to be cancer.

What does ovarian cancer look like on an ultrasound is not an easy question to answer. There are different ultrasound scoring systems which can predict whether there is a malignancy or not. Some characteristics may point to increased chance of malignancy. These include cysts which have multiple septations within them, a thick-walled cyst, a solid mass, mixed cystic and solid masses, large amount of free fluid in the pelvis or abdomen and masses which are gradually enlarging. Transvaginal ultrasound scanning has been used, with some success, to identify ovarian cancer. By the time the changes of ovarian cancer are detectable by ultrasound, most ovarian cancers are well beyond the early stage of the disease. In cases of ovarian cancer, ultrasound usually reveals complex cysts on one or both ovaries, multiple solid masses, nodule on the bowel or excess pelvic and/or abdominal fluid.

Ovarian cancer cannot be diagnosed with certainty by ultrasound. What does ovarian cancer look like on an ultrasound can at best identify characteristics that make it more likely to be malignant or benign. There are many benign pelvic conditions that can appear on ultrasound and are mistaken for cancer. These include benign ovarian cysts, hemorrhagic ovarian cysts, endometriosis, dermoid cysts, ovarian fibroids, uterine fibroids,swollen, fluid-filled faloppian tubes, pelvic abscesses and adhesions. If you have a large cyst and are in your menopausal years or you have a cyst that shows signs that it may contain cancer cells, your doctor will recommend that surgery to have it removed and looked at in the pathology lab. If the specialist cannot be sure whether an abnormality on ultrasound is cancer or not they may ask you to have a CT scan or an MRI scan to observe the ovaries more clearly. Sometimes though, it is not possible to diagnose ovarian cancer for certain without an operation. In such cases surgical exploration of the pelvis and a subsequent pathological examination of the specimen will help ascertain the presence of cancer.

Ovarian Cancer

Ovarian cancer is a disease produced by the rapid growth and division of cells within one or both ovaries-reproductive glands in which the ova, or eggs, and the female sex hormones are made. The ovaries contain cells that, under normal circumstances, reproduce to maintain tissue health. When growth control is lost and cells divide too much and too fast, a cellular mass or tumor is formed. If the tumor is confined to a few cell layers, for example, surface cells, and it does not invade surrounding tissues or organs, it is considered benign. If the tumor spreads to surrounding tissues or organs, it is considered malignant, or cancerous. When cancerous cells break away from the original tumor, travel through the blood or lymphatic vessels, and grow within other parts of the body, the process is known as metastasis…

Causes of Ovarian cancer

The exact cause of ovarian cancer isn’t known. It’s more common in women who live in developed countries. Other factors that are thought to make ovarian cancer more likely include:

A family history of ovarian cancer – women who have two or more close relatives (mother, sister or daughter) with ovarian cancer are more at risk.Having a non-cancerous condition called endometriosis.Starting your period early and having the menopause late.

Symptoms of Ovarian Cancer

When symptoms occur they may include any of the following : -

Loss of appetite.Vague indigestion, nausea, excess gas (wind) and a bloated, full feeling.Unexplained weight gain.Swelling in the abdomen – this may be due to a build up of fluid, known as ascites, which can cause shortness of breath.Pain in the lower abdomen.Changes in bowel or bladder habits, such as constipation, diarrhoea or needing to pass urine more often.Lower back pain.Pain during sex.Abnormal vaginal bleeding, although this is rare.

Treatment Of Ovarian Cancer in India

Treatment :

Surgery to remove cancerous tissue.Chemotherapy to destroy cancer cells using strong anti-cancer drugs. Radiotherapy to destroy cancer cells by high-energy radiation exposure…

Surgery for Ovarian Cancer in India

Surgery usually is required to treat ovarian cancer. Most patients undergo surgery in addition to another form of treatment (e.g., chemotherapy and/or radiotherapy). Surgery helps the physician to accurately stage the tumor, make a diagnosis, and perform debulking (removal of as much tumor mass as possible). Debulking surgery is especially important in ovarian cancer because aggressive removal of cancerous tissue is associated with improved survival. Patients with no residual tumor mass, or tumor masses that measure less than 1 cm, have the best opportunity for cure…

Chemotherapy for Ovarian Cancer in India

Chemotherapy involves using drugs to destroy cancer cells. Many of these drugs destroy cancer cells by preventing them from growing and dividing rapidly. Unfortunately, many normal cells also divide rapidly and are damaged by chemotherapy…

Radiation for Ovarian Cancer in India

Radiotherapy may be used to kill cancer cells from a cyst that ruptures during surgical removal of an ovary, or it may be used to treat certain patients who appear cancer-free or who have only microscopic evidence of disease at second-look surgery. It is historically the treatment of choice for germ cell tumors known as dysgerminomas. However, recently it has been found that chemotherapy can cure a percentage of such patients…

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