Ovarian cancer has become known as the 'silent killer' because it is so hard to detect at its early stages when treatment could do some good. Three times as lethal as breast cancer, ovarian cancer is the cause of more than 15,000 deaths a year.
Because the symptoms of early ovarian cancer are non specific, women tend to ignore them, thinking they will go away. Signs and symptoms from the Mayo clinic.
• Abdominal pressure, fullness, swelling or bloating
• Urinary urgency
• Pelvic discomfort or pain
So this is particularly good news from researchers at the Yale School of Medicine, 99% Detection on Early Stage Ovarian Cancer.
“The ability to recognize almost 100 percent of new tumors will have a major impact on the high death rates of this cancer,” said lead author Gil Mor, M.D., associate professor in the Department of Obstetrics, Gynecology & Reproductive Sciences at Yale. “We hope this test will become the standard of care for women having routine examinations.”
Hat tip FuturePundit.
Another disease that affects women almost exclusively is LAM (Lymphangioleiomyomatosis ), a progressive lung disease that affects women most often during their cild-bearing years. Smooth muscle cells grow uncontrollably invading the tissues of the lungs, the airways and blood and lymph vessels to form cell clusters and cysts that eventually create holes in the lungs, preventing the lungs from providing oxygen to the rest of the body. The LAM Foundation.
Yvonne DiVita tells the story of Alanna Nelson, a young mother recently diagnosed with LAM, who is fundraising with a bake sale this past weekend in Pennsylvania.
"It is a genetic lung disease, which destroys healthy lung tissue by causing bubble-like cysts that cannot transfer oxygen to the blood. This means that people with LAM will eventually need full-time oxygen, and finally must resort to lung transplantation to stay alive. There is currently NO CURE and LAM is ultimately fatal."
About 1500 women have been diagnosed with LAM but some scientists estimate that as many as 250,000 may be going undiagnosed or misdiagnosed because the symptoms are so similar to asthma, bronchitis or emphysema.
Many doctors think pregnancy accelerates the disease.
So far no cure, no treatment though clinical trials are underway.
Posted by Jill Fallon at February 26, 2008 10:59 AM | PermalinkThanks for the call-out, Jill. If we ladies don't do something about these diseases, who will? I got a great response to my post. I'm sure you will, also.
Posted by: Yvonne DiVita at February 27, 2008 9:43 AM