OVARIAN CANCER AWARNESS MONTH: Spread the word.

                        Linda at four.  Cute from the start.

Then she got cuter.



Suddenly I am neck-deep in important stuff to write about.  I haven’t even looked at the NCI Cancer Bulletin for September 4^th, except to note from the “cover page” that it has lots of articles on the genome and cancer.  I am dipping my toe into an incredibly important info-dump (code name ENCODE) detailing a vast, coordinated set of new genome studies.  (36 separate papers from three different journals, all published on the same day.  One of the PIs here at the Hutch told me not to attempt to read the original papers; just read the press releases instead.  He has concerns for my mental health.)  There also is an article in the NY Times about new developments in the battle against lung cancer, which has important implications for using targeted therapy  for  many other kinds of cancer.  Again, this is genome-based.  However, because this is National Ovarian Cancer Awareness Month (you didn’t know that, did you?) – and because ovarian cancer is the disease I hate most in all the world – I am going to alert you to another NY Times* blurb, this one titled “Ovarian Cancer Screenings Are Not Effective, Panel Says”.  You can read it for yourself by going to http://nyti.ms/S4Jkiy.  It is easy going.

The gist is this:  The United States Preventive Services Task Force (the same group so hated and reviled by  urologists for their recommendation against using PSA to test for prostate cancer – see blog entry for 3/27/12, as well as having been stoned and run out of town for suggesting that women should not have mammograms before the age of 50) now says something that everybody agrees with:  you should not use currently available screening techniques on healthy women to detect ovarian cancer.  Current methodology consists of testing for the abundance of the protein CA-125 measured from a blood sample, followed by ultrasound.  CA-125  is well established as being  associated with ovarian cancer.  The problem here is that CA-125 can elevate for any number of reasons, not merely those that are scary.  Furthermore, ultrasound detects ovarian enlargements of all sorts, not all lethal.  A vast study shows conclusively that there is no gain in longevity from such screenings.  Moreover, of those screened about 10% received false positives, leading to unnecessary surgery.  The article states that this screening technique leads to about 20 surgeries for every cancer detected.  Too much needless pain, and too much expense – although the USPSTF always goes to great lengths to assure you that they don’t take expense into consideration.  Still, about 1/3 of doctors will recommend this screening, or not talk you out of it if you ask for it.  So, be warned.

Note that this applies only to healthy women.  If you have a family history or you are carrying a BRCA mutation, or if you experience the symptoms below, for God’s sake get screened.

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Ovarian Cancer Symptom Index

                Any new and persistent incidences of:

Bloating

Pelvic/abdominal pain

Trouble eating, or feeling full quickly

Urinary symptoms such as urgency or frequency

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This article also contains the usual disgusting statistics about the prevalence – and mortality – of ovarian cancer.  The American Cancer Society estimates that 22,280 new cases will be diagnosed this year in the U.S., and 15,500 women will die.  Like I’ve said many times before, ovarian cancer is  crying out to be wiped from the face of the earth.

By the way:  the article ends with the words “We’ve got to find something else” (referring to an early-warning screening protocol.)  That’s exactly what my group at the Hutch is working on.

*My wide-ranging reporter Dick Ingwall is to be thanked for alerting me to these NY Times articles.  Thanks, Dick.  Since he pays for and reads it, I am spared the effort and expense.  The only problem with reading these bits on-line is that you are always welcomed by Michelle Obama, who will invite you to dinner at the White House.  “Air fare will be provided!”  Now, how DO they manage that?