In women, on each side of the uterus there is one ovary. The ovaries are oval shaped and are almost 1 ½ inches in length. Ovaries are the reproductive organ in female. Ovarian cancer is a disease in which normal cell starts behaving abnormally that is when they divide and grow too fast. Acting abnormally of cells forms excessive mass or tumor.
There are two kinds of tumors Benign and Malignant. If the tumor has effected just few cell layers and it does not invade surrounding tissues and organ than it is called Benign. But on the other hand if the tumor spreads to tissues and organs than it is considered to be cancerous cell or malignant. If the disease is detected in its initial stage the chances of survival increases. There are three major categories of ovarian cancers.
- EPITHELIAL CANCER, this is the most common ovarian cancer which rises from the lining of cell or covering the ovaries
- GERM CELL CANCER, this cancer start from the germ cells which are destined to make eggs
- SEX CORD, STROMAL CELL CANCER, cancer starts from the cells which hold the ovaries and produce hormones.
Symptoms
The symptoms of ovarian cancer is mimic of those of other condition and the ability to detect this disease is poor usually the women are not detected until there disease is reached to late stage. There are no distinctive symptoms of ovarian cancer.
But sometimes lingering symptoms of ovarian cancer are as follows.
- Bloating
- Abdominal/ pelvic discomfort or pressure
- Changes in bowel function or urinary frequency
- Nausea or loss of appetite
- Back or leg pain
- Malnourished or wasted appearance
- Fatigue
- Unusual vaginal bleeding
Diagnosis
Women who are suffering from ovarian cancer will not have any sufficient symptoms rather than a swelled abdominal. Screening is also done in the case of ovarian cancer but screening is not the sufficiently accurate.
Medical History
Doctor asks for:
- Family history of ovarian cancer, if their immediate relatives had ovarian cancer rises the chances of ovarian cancer to the women of immediate relatives.
- Previous gynecologic surgery, if a women who had surgery to tied the fallopian tube or surgery to remove womb without removing ovaries, are in less risk of ovarian cancer.
- Women who already have had cancer of another organ are at greater risk of having ovarian cancer.PELVIC EXAMINATION: The doctor examines the vagina, uterus, rectum, pelvis and ovaries for masses and growths.PAPANICOLAOU SMEAR: Is also called pap smear and pap test in this test a scraper or small brush is used to collect cells from cervix and upper vagina. Then the cells are smeared on a slide and send to the laboratory for further investigation.ULTRASOUND: High frequency sound waves are used to get the inside image of a body. This method is use to configure if there is any mass is grown if any mass is found then an abdominal fluid is been collected for further testing for cancerous cell is present or not.
Treatment
There are three main types of treatment for ovarian cancer. Sometimes doctors use different combination treatment according to the disease. These treatments are used to stop the growth of cancerous cell and to kill them.
- SURGERY
- CHEMOTHERAPY
- RADIOTHERAPY
Surgery
In surgery the effected part is been removed and in ovarian cancer mostly it’s been treated with surgery. In this case the survival chances of the patients are increased. The doctors make sure that as much tumor is removed as possible.
Chemotherapy
In this method the medicine is either introduce directly into the blood stream through injection or it’s been topically applied to skin in this way the medicine boost the immune system of a body so that it can combat with the disease. This kind of treatment kills cancerous cells from body.
Radiotherapy
This treatment is not as common for ovarian cancer. In this treatment the cancer cells are killed by high level rays radiation. This treatment is usually used after the surgery after removal of tumor so that the left over cancer cell can be destroyed with the radiation. With repeated treatment the chances of survival of the patients increases.