On the occasion of the World Ovarian Cancerdays s , which is 7.05.2023 takes place, we would like to inform you today about the second most common cancer of the female reproductive organs. World Ovarian Cancer Day was initiated to inform people about this very unknown cancer. We also think it is important that it receives more attention. With our blog post we want to make a contribution to educating people about this topic - from the Symptoms about the diagnosis up to the forecast of ovarian cancer.

Ovarian cancer, or even more complicated as Ovarian cancer is a cancer of the ovaries that affects around 7,300 people every year. Tumors form on one or both ovaries, but in later stages the tumor can also spread to the abdominal cavity. You may have already heard that people with ovarian cancer often do not notice any symptoms. The disease is often not recognized at first and is therefore only diagnosed in the final stages.

Maybe you have already asked yourself what the symptoms of ovarian cancer are. The tricky thing about ovarian cancer is that the symptoms of those affected are usually very unspecific. They are often signs that can also occur with other diseases. To give you an overview of these possible, but very unspecific symptoms of ovarian cancer, we have compiled the following for you:

-        Abdominal pain

-         Nausea or indigestion

-         Swelling of the abdomen because more abdominal fluid is produced

-         General exhaustion and fatigue

-         Rarely, bleeding that occurs outside the cycle and after menopause

Many of these symptoms are certainly familiar to you, such as stomach pain, nausea and exhaustion. They can also occur in everyday life or with a variety of illnesses. It is precisely this non-specific nature of the disease that makes it so difficult to diagnose ovarian cancer.

As you have already learned, the symptoms of ovarian cancer are not very revealing, so many sufferers do not receive a diagnosis at first. This also explains why only 25% of all sufferers receive a diagnosis in the early stages.In most cases, those affected are only diagnosed when metastases are already present in the abdominal cavity. The symptoms described above also only appear in those affected when they are already in an advanced stage. 

In 90% of all cases, ovarian cancer is a malignant and aggressive tumor. Because most of those affected are only diagnosed in the third or fourth and thus final stages, the prognosis is also rather poor. However, if the disease is detected early enough, those affected by stage I can expect an 88 percent chance of survival. Those affected by stage II can also expect a high chance of survival of 79 percent.

Treatment in certified centers now allowsdays higher chances of survival for ovarian cancer. In general, the chances of surviving ovarian cancer have improved considerably over the years.

Due to the poor prognosis, you are probably wondering what the prevention of ovarian cancer is. However, the causes of ovarian cancer are still unclear. Often the disease is simply caused by the genetics or age of the affected person.

The gynecologist may also only be able to detect the tumor when it is already at an advanced stage through a physical examination. A vaginal ultrasound examination can show abnormalities in the ovaries, but these are often harmless findings. Such an examination can therefore cause a lot of concern, even though it is not cancer. 
So you can see that the lack of early detection tests for ovarian cancer contributes to the fact that the cancer may not be detected early in the precursor stage.

Did you know that the likelihood of developing ovarian cancer increases with age? It can be assumed that the risk increases especially when you are over 50 years old. This may surprise you because you may have heard that younger people have been diagnosed with ovarian cancer. When a younger person is diagnosed, it is usually because they have a genetic predisposition to this type of cancer. So if close relatives have already had ovarian cancer, the risk of developing ovarian cancer yourself increases.

The exact causes of ovarian cancer are still unclear. However, it can be assumed that there are other risk factors besides age that could increase the risk of ovarian cancer. As we explained above, a person's genetics can also trigger ovarian cancer. Infertility and childlessness could also provide indications of possible ovarian cancer.