Novel Ovarian Cancer Diagnostic May Eliminate Need for Exploratory Surgery

June 21, 2019 6:00 pm

Scientists at Uppsala University and the Sahlgrenska Academy, University of Gothenburg say they have developed a blood test that may provide a more precise diagnostic for suspected ovarian cancer that would eliminate the need for exploratory surgery. This could lead … Read more

The CA125 Blood Test: Your Questions Answered

June 10, 2019 5:00 pm

What is a CA125 blood test?

CA125 is a protein that both men and women have in their blood. The normal level of this is 35 units per millilitre (U/mL), or lower.

A CA125 blood test is used to check … Read more

Epithelial Ovarian Cancer: BRCA Mutations, Brain Mets, and Breastfeeding

May 6, 2019 5:00 pm

By Kristin Jenkins

The presence of a BRCA germ line mutation in patients with invasive epithelial ovarian cancer may confer a short-term survival advantage, but is not associated with a reduction in long-term mortality, researchers found.

A follow-up study comparing … Read more

23andMe DTC Breast and Ovarian Cancer Risk Test Misses Almost 90 Percent of BRCA Mutation Carriers

April 5, 2019 5:00 pm

By Julia Karow

A study led by researchers at Invitae has found that 23andMe’s direct-to-consumer BRCA test, which tests for three common variants in the BRCA1 and BRCA2 genes and is authorized by the US Food and Drug Administration, misses … Read more

Ovarian Cancer Screening Tool Should be a Top Research Priority

March 25, 2019 5:00 pm

By Kelly Irvin

Did we bring this scary, painful, financially draining monster into our lives by eating too many cookies and not doing enough jumping jacks? We need a reliable diagnostic screening tool for ovarian cancer and we need it Read more

Only 18% of People With Breast and Ovarian Cancer Genes Knew They Were Carriers, Study Found. How Can We Make DNA Screening Work Better?

February 7, 2019 5:00 pm

By Michael Murray

There are diseases and health conditions that are essentially invisible to us until it is too late.

When those problems are life-threatening, such as cancer, and if there is a period when something could be done, then … Read more

What This 30-Year-Old Ovarian Cancer Survivor Wants All Women to Know—Especially If You’re Young

November 24, 2018 7:20 pm

By Blake Bakkila

When Hannah Pyper felt her first symptoms at 26—a lump growing in her abdomen, intense pains that would wake her up, and the urge to pee several times throughout the night—she “totally ignored everything.” 

Hannah Pyper had … Read more

Sound and Light Could Detect Ovarian Cancer Earlier

November 23, 2018 11:32 pm

By Beth Miller

Researchers have found an innovative way to use sound and light, or photoacoustic, imaging to diagnose ovarian tumors. The method may lead to a promising new diagnostic imaging technique to improve current standard of care for patients Read more

Why Is the 5-Year Survival Rate for Ovarian Cancer So Low?

November 21, 2018 11:30 pm

By Korin Miller

Here’s what to know—and how to try to protect yourself.

Finding out that you or someone you love has any kind of cancer is disorienting, frightening, and generally a hellish experience. This is pretty typical no matter … Read more

Ultrasonography Useful for Predicting Ovarian Cancer Risk

November 21, 2018 9:55 pm

By Will Boggs MD

The ultrasonographic appearance of ovarian masses is strongly associated with a woman’s risk of ovarian cancer, researchers report.

“Ovarian cancer is a frightening and devastating disease, and we want to be able to find ovarian cancer … Read more

Ultrasound Finds Simple Cysts Not Associated With Ovarian Cancer Risk

November 13, 2018 3:00 pm

By Melissa Rohman

Using ultrasound technology, researchers found simple ovarian cysts—commonly found amongst premenopausal and postmenopausal women—are not associated with an increased risk of ovarian cancer and do not require additional surveillance or surgical intervention, according to research published online

Read more

Ovarian Cancer Screening Isn’t as Simple as Getting an Ultrasound

October 26, 2018 7:26 pm

By Korin Miller

In fact, there’s no reliable screening test, period.

Ovarian cancer is one of those diseases you probably assume you’re being screened for when you go to your well-woman exams, but that’s not really the case. Ovarian cancer … Read more

To Test or Not To Test: A Thorny Question in Ovarian Cancer Maintenance

September 19, 2018 9:28 pm

BY Kelly Irvin

I’ve officially entered the twilight zone. No, not the one Rod Serling spoke of on that classic TV show. This is that murky, dark period when the tumor markers associated with ovarian cancer start creeping up. While … Read more

Squelching Ovarian Cancer: The Not-So-Silent Killer

September 17, 2018 12:08 am

By Diane Mapes

Despite its long-standing nickname, ovarian cancer isn’t really a silent killer. There are symptoms; it’s just that they whisper or are commonly mistaken for something else, like aging or irritable bowel syndrome. As a result of this

Read more

Study Cracks Open the Secrets of the Cancer-Causing BRCA1 Gene

September 12, 2018 12:21 am

By Sharon Begley

Lawsuits didn’t do it, public shaming didn’t do it, patients and doctors banding together to “free the data” couldn’t do it: For 22 years Myriad Genetics, one of the oldest genetic testing companies, has refused to make … Read more

PapSEEK: Potential Screening Test for Gynecologic Cancers

March 23, 2018 7:29 pm

A sample obtained from routine Papanicolaou (Pap) tests used for cervical cancer screening can be subjected to a multiplex panel test, dubbed PapSEEK, to determine whether the sample is positive for endometrial or ovarian cancer, two gynecologic cancers for which … Read more

Ovarian Cancer: How Your Father’s Genes Can Affect Your Risk

February 19, 2018 12:01 am

Scientists studying ovarian cancer have revealed a new genetic mutation that increases a woman’s risk of ovarian cancer — and it can be passed to her by her father.

Recently, Medical News Today covered a study that looked into whether … Read more

‘No’ to Ovarian Cancer Screening: Harms Outweigh Benefits

February 14, 2018 8:49 pm

Women should not undergo screening for ovarian cancer if they do not have signs or symptoms of the disease, as it does not improve survival but may expose women unnecessarily to surgical complications. This is the final guidance from the … Read more

Screening Beyond Those With Cancer History May Be More Effective

February 12, 2018 10:32 pm

As genetic testing becomes more accessible with advanced technology and decreased costs, population-based testing for breast and ovarian cancer may be more cost effective in the long run, according to study results published in Journal of the National Cancer InstituteRead more

With Cancer, Timing Is Everything

January 8, 2018 10:41 pm

I had a family member who was diagnosed with late stage ovarian cancer 20 years ago and died of the disease at the age of 47. Even though her symptoms appeared a year before her diagnosis with abdominal bloating, indigestion, … Read more