A specialist gives advice on detecting—and dealing with—ovarian cancer
The topic of ovarian cancer can be especially frightening for women. Because it shows few symptoms until it’s fairly advanced, it is often described as a “silent killer.”
Many women worry that they’ll miss possible early symptoms—such as pelvic pain, bloating, fatigue, a feeling of fullness or needing to urinate more frequently—that could also indicate a more mundane ailment.
Noah Goldman, MD, a gynecologic oncologist at Clara Maass Medical Center, understands the frustration. He also understands the fear of ovarian cancer, which ranks fifth in cancer deaths among women.
“Symptoms can be hard, but not impossible, to detect,” he says. “However, people need to know that a diagnosis of ovarian cancer is not a death sentence. That’s an old wives’ tale.
“There have been some really big strides made in terms of treatment.”
A prudent approach
The key to catching early symptoms, Dr. Goldman says, is to know your body. “Yes, everybody has bloating at some point, or back pain, or urinary symptoms,” he says. “But things that don’t resolve themselves within a week or so need to be investigated. Ovarian cancer shouldn’t necessarily be the first thing in someone’s head, but should certainly be in the conversation.”
Women who are diagnosed early have a much greater five-year survival rate. “Listen to your body, and if you recognize that something is happening that’s not normal for you, seek help either from your primary care provider or your gynecologist,” Dr. Goldman advises.
“Getting to the doctor early is important. It’s better to be seen and told there’s nothing wrong than to ignore symptoms.”
To help women track symptoms of ovarian and other gynecologic cancers (cervical, uterine, vaginal and vulvar), the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention provides a downloadable two-week symptoms diary. (Find it and more information at here.)
Reason for hope
Despite greater awareness, the fact remains that the majority of women with ovarian cancer are diagnosed when the disease is beyond the early stage. “Unfortunately, the need for early detection remains the real crux of the matter, and researchers are always trying new ways to find a reliable screening,” Dr. Goldman says.
By the time a patient is in Dr. Goldman’s office, she has been through rounds of testing, and decisions must be made about the next step. “We have the discussion about whether it’s necessary to do chemotherapy up front to shrink tumors, or whether an operation can remove all disease,” he says.
Depending on her individual case, a patient may also be eligible for targeted (biologic) therapies that attack cancer cells while doing little damage to normal cells.
“I always give my patients the ‘rule of 20s,’” Dr. Goldman says. “Twenty percent of patients will get treated and never have any problems again. For another 20 percent, treatment is not going to work and they are going to succumb to the disease.
“And for 60 percent, this is going to be a chronic disease that gets treated and goes away, comes back and gets re-treated. Since the average age for getting ovarian cancer is around 64, a woman can have another 10, 15 or 20 years of living with this disease.”
To learn more about gynecologic oncology services at Clara Maass Medical Center, visit www.rwjbh.org/gynonc.
To schedule an appointment with one of our cancer specialists, click here or call (844)-CANCERNJ or (844) 226-2376.