Ovarian Cancer: Fast Facts
Reviewed By:
Martin E. Liebling, M.D., FACP
- More than 21,000 new cases of ovarian cancer will be diagnosed in the United States in 2008, according to the American Cancer Society (ACS). Of those cases, more than 15,000 women will die from the disease.
- Among women in the United States, ovarian cancer is the eighth most common cancer and the fifth leading cause of cancer death.
- A woman's chance of getting ovarian cancer in her lifetime is roughly 1 in 71, according to the ACS.
- The number of cases of ovarian cancer has been falling slowly for the past 20 years.
- Most cases of ovarian cancer occur in women over the age of 50. However, it can develop in younger women as well. Women over age 60 have the highest incidence of ovarian cancer.
- A women's chance of developing ovarian cancer increases if she has a mother, sister or daughter who has been diagnosed with the disease. Women with a history of breast, endometrial or colon cancer also have a higher risk.
- Having children and using oral contraceptives can reduce a women's risk of ovarian cancer.
- Women who use birth control pills for five years or more have a 50 percent lower risk of developing ovarian cancer.
- Women who have their fallopian tubes surgically "tied" (tubal ligation) reduce their risk of developing ovarian cancer by up to 67 percent. Having a hysterectomy can also reduce a women's ovarian cancer risk.
- Only about 20 percent of all ovarian cancers are diagnosed at an early stage. Difficulty in early detection contributes to ovarian cancer causing more deaths than any other cancer of the female reproductive system.
- Surgery and chemotherapy are the main treatments for ovarian cancer. In some women, radiation therapy may be used as a treatment option.
- Survival from ovarian cancer varies with when the cancer is first detected. In general, 75 percent of all women with ovarian cancer survive one year after diagnosis and 45 percent survive longer than five years after diagnosis.
- The stage of ovarian cancer indicates the extent of the cancer or how widespread it is in the body. Ovarian cancer is staged from I to IV, and the lower the stage, the better the prognosis.
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