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Two Percent of All Female Newborns in the United States Are at Risk of Getting Ovarian Cancer

As many as 30,000 U.S. women will be diagnosed with ovarian cancer this year. In 2006, between 15,000 and 16,000 women are likely to die from this silent killer. Ovarian cancer is the 5th leading cause of death among women, and it is responsible for about five percent of all cancer deaths. Chances are your doctor may have misdiagnosed you. That is often the case. A recent British study found 60 percent of all U.K. general practitioners had misdiagnosed their patients. Three-quarters of British doctors surveyed incorrectly assumed that symptoms only occurred in the late stages of ovarian cancer. Based upon that information, it should be no surprise that Britain has one of the lowest survival rates for ovarian cancer in the Western World of 6,800 cases diagnosed each year, more than 4,600 die.

A similar discovery was made by University of California researchers, who announced last year, Four in 10 women with ovarian cancer have symptoms that they tell their doctors about at least four months and as long as one year before they are diagnosed.According to their study of nearly 2,000 women with ovarian cancer, the researchers discovered physicians:

• First ordered abdominal imaging or performed gastrointestinal procedures instead of the more appropriate pelvic imaging and/or CA-125 (a blood test that can detect ovarian cancer).
• Only 25 percent of patients, who reported ovarian cancer symptoms four or more months before diagnosis, were given pelvic imaging or had CA-125 blood tests.

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