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The exact cause of ovarian cancer has not been elucidated yet, but genetic factors may play a role first. As in the case of Angelina Jolie, BRCA mutations can increase the risk of developing ovarian cancer at a young age.
In addition to genetic causes, the more frequent ovulation, the higher the risk of ovarian cancer. Pregnancy reduces the risk of ovarian cancer because you do not ovulate. If you have one child, your risk is reduced by regarding 10% compared to women who have never given birth, and if you have three births, the risk of ovarian cancer is reduced by a whopping 50 % decrease. Breastfeeding following childbirth or taking birth control pills also reduces the risk of ovarian cancer because ovulation is suppressed.
As such, we investigated ‘ovarian cancer’, the cause of which has not yet been clearly identified, together with Professor Kim Ki-dong of the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology at Seoul National University Bundang Hospital.
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| © News1 Designer Juhee Yoon |
◇ There are no obvious symptoms… Ovarian cancer called ‘silent cancer’
Ovarian cancer refers to cancer that occurs in the ‘ovary’, which plays an important role in female reproduction and hormone secretion. It occurs most often between the ages of 50 and 70, and regarding 3,000 new cases are reported every year.
Ovarian cancer is largely divided into epithelial ovarian cancer, germ cell cancer, and sex stromal cancer depending on the tissue in which the cancer occurs.
According to the annual report of the National Cancer Registry, there were a total of 115,080 female cancer patients in 2018, of which 2,898 were ovarian cancer. By age group, they are in their 50s, 40s, and 60s.
The 5-year survival rate of ovarian cancer is 62%, close to the average survival rate of major cancers, but in advanced stages, the 5-year survival rate is only 44%. If ovarian cancer is detected and treated early, the cure rate is over 80-90%, but the biggest problem is that there are no clear symptoms in the early stages. This leads to a high mortality rate, as most cases are found only following the disease has progressed significantly, and the disease is found in a stage 3 or higher stage.
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| © News1 Designer Juhee Yoon |
◇ What are the main symptoms and diagnosis methods of ovarian cancer?
If you have ovarian cancer, you may experience symptoms such as bloating, indigestion, and urination. Because the symptoms of ovarian cancer are non-specific, early diagnosis is not made and it is often discovered following the cancer has progressed. For this reason, it is recommended that you receive a check-up if you continue to feel even non-specific symptoms.
Ovarian cancer is divided into stages 1-4 depending on the degree of progression. Stage 1 is when cancer cells grow only in the ovary, stage 2 is when the cancer has spread to the pelvis, and stage 3 is when the cancer has spread to the abdominal cavity or lymph nodes. Stage 4 refers to a condition that has spread outside the abdominal cavity to the liver, brain, or lungs. The main opinion of experts is that, if detected in the first stage, the treatment effect is good and the recurrence rate is low, but if it is detected following the third stage, the prognosis is poor.
A lump found in the ovary is determined through ultrasound and blood tests to determine whether or not ovarian cancer is present. In addition, computed tomography (CT) and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) are performed. These tests are not confirmatory tests, so a diagnosis can be made only following the tumor is removed through surgery and then a biopsy is performed.
Unfortunately, there is still no way to detect ovarian cancer at an early stage. Although several studies have been conducted to detect ovarian cancer at an early stage by frequently performing ultrasound and blood tests, there are still no results showing that ovarian cancer screening is effective in women with average risk.
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| © News1 Designer Juhee Yoon |
◇ How to treat ovarian cancer… Anticancer drug administration following tumor removal
The basic treatment method for ovarian cancer is to remove all possible tumors with surgery and then administer chemotherapy. After surgery, the extent of the spread of cancer cells and the results of histological examination will determine the treatment policy. If the spread of cancer cells is severe, chemotherapy is first performed before surgery, and surgery is performed following reducing the spread of cancer cells with chemotherapy.
Surgery usually removes the uterus, both ovaries, adipose tissue, the omentum, and enlarged lymph nodes. In addition, if a metastatic tumor is found in the large intestine, small intestine, spleen, liver, or diaphragm, all possible parts are excised. The smaller the remaining tumor following resection, the better the treatment result can be expected. Even following surgery, invisible cancer cells exist, so chemotherapy can be performed to remove these cancer cells.
In addition to chemotherapy, additional maintenance therapy is helpful. If angiogenesis inhibitors are administered along with chemotherapy, recurrence can be reduced. Recently, it has been reported that the use of a targeted treatment that induces cancer cell death in ovarian cancer patients with genetic mutations reduced the risk of recurrence by 70%.
