Girl, 8, Survives Ovarian Cancer

Sept 25, 2012

Written by Alex Crees

On September 22, the third Annual Run/Walk to Break the Silence on Ovarian Cancer will take place in Madison, Conn. The walk’s top fundraising team, Natalie’s Tigers, which has raised more than $7,000, is fronted by little Natalie Cosman – who, at 8 years old, is a survivor of the disease.

“Our goal is to make people realize it can happen to any female at any age,” Natalie’s mother, Melinda Cosman, told FoxNews.com. “We want to get the word out there about the disease the way it should be out there.”

Natalie’s battle started one year ago, when she started complaining of chronic stomach pain. Doctors brushed it off as a stomach virus or gas buildup – until one day, when the pain became so bad, Natalie’s parents rushed her to the hospital.

Suspecting appendicitis, doctors ordered an ultrasound and found a 7-centimeter cyst on Natalie’s right ovary. A biopsy confirmed the cyst was a tumor, and Natalie was diagnosed with stage II ovarian cancer.

“I was shocked, especially by what kind of cancer it was,” Cosman said. “A 7 year old with ovarian cancer is quite shocking.”

‘A silent killer’

September is Ovarian Cancer Awareness month. Ovarian cancer is known as a 'silent killer' because there is little awareness and high mortality rates associated with the disease. In 2012, there will be 22,280 new cases of ovarian cancer and 15,500 deaths from ovarian cancer, according to estimates from the American Cancer Society.

While ovarian cancer is ranked ninth in prevalence among women – lagging far behind breast and lung cancer – it ranks fifth in women’s cancer deaths. More than half of women diagnosed die within five years.

Children and young women typically develop a rare subtype of the disease – it arises in the germ cell, which is responsible for making eggs, or in the cells that support the eggs, according to Dr. Robert DeBernardo, a gynecological oncologist at UH Case Medical Center in Cleveland, Ohio. This cancer subtype usually remains confined to one ovary and is highly treatable if caught early.

EmpowHER

Ovarian cancer screenings not recommended as a routine

Sept 2012

By Lena H. Sun, Published: September 10

A federal government task force recommended Monday that women not get routinely screened for ovarian cancer because doing so can put them at increased risk for unnecessary harm, such as major surgery.

The U.S. Preventive Services Task Force, an independent group of national experts, said it continues to discourage screening in women at average risk for ovarian cancer, which has the highest mortality rate of all types of gynecological cancer and is the fifth-leading cause of cancer death among women.

Although the task force made the same recommendation in 2004, the panel’s latest recommendation is based on the largest clinical trial published so far. It confirms previous findings, the task force chairman said.

“It was a pretty definitive study. It confirmed what we thought was the case,” said Virginia Moyer, the panel chair. Half the women in the study were screened with transvaginal ultrasounds and a blood test called CA-125, which is how screening is typically done. The other half of the women were not screened. There were 78,216 women in this trial.

“It made no difference in the outcome,” she said.

But a high percentage of women who undergo screening experience false-positive tests that then require invasive testing, such as major surgery to open up the abdomen and take out the ovary, she said.

“That puts those women at increased risk for being harmed. That’s major surgery.”

She said the task force tries to update its recommendations every five years based on new evidence. Its last recommendation against routine screening for ovarian cancer was issued in 2004. In 2008, review of the literature was commissioned by the task force and revealed no new evidence about the benefits of screening.

The task force did not make a recommendation, Moyer said, because the large clinical trial was underway.

Moyer said screening guidelines by other medical and public health organizations are in line with the panel’s. For example, the American Congress of Obstetricians and Gynecologists does not recommend screening for ovarian cancer in women who are not showing symptoms. Also, the American Cancer Society says there is no screening test proven to be effective and sufficiently accurate in the early detection of the cancer.

Women’s health advocates said the latest recommendation does show that better screening tools need to be developed.

“The important thing to remember is that if women do have symptoms or have a family history of ovarian cancer, they need to see a doctor,” said Pat Goldman, founder of the Ovarian Cancer National Alliance. Symptoms include persistent urinary or bowel changes or pelvic pain, or a feeling of fullness when you haven’t eaten.