WHAT EVERY WOMAN SHOULD KNOW ABOUT OVARIAN CANCER
By Christine Burke
As with most cancers, a woman's chances of survival are better if the disease is found early, but ovarian tumors are known as "stealth killers," because they are notoriously difficult to detect in their early stages. Only about 20 percent of ovarian cancers are found before the malignancy has spread to other tissues, according to the Mayo Clinic.
Yet, Lorna Rodriguez, MD, PhD remains optimistic. Dr. Rodriguez is chief of the division of Gynecologic Oncology and director of the Gynecologic Oncology Program at The Cancer Institute of New Jersey (CINJ). CINJ is a Center of Excellence of UMDNJ-Robert Wood Johnson Medical School, one of the nation’s leading NCI designated comprehensive cancer center.
“I am more of a “half full” type of person,” said Dr. Rodriguez. “A recent comment from a patient has made me think even more about this. There’s a national awareness program to educate women about the symptoms of ovarian cancer. Many doctors have a poster about this in their offices. It refers to ovarian cancer as the “silent killer”. My patient was very upset because she may in fact have ovarian cancer and she had seen this poster and was terribly upset. So now, even before her diagnosis is confirmed, even before her outcome can be known, she thinks she’s going to die. That slogan is very powerful but I am concerned about making it so negative. It may make patients throw in the towel. It’s very fatalistic.”
Read more at www.primewomanmag.com
