Linda at 20
At W.M.U.
A new study by U.C. Davis scientists amounts to good news
for ovarian cancer sufferers. You
faithful readers are aware that OVCA is known as the “silent killer” because
symptoms show up so late in the progress of the disease, and that the fraction
of OVCA women that are alive five years after diagnosis (the “survival” ratio)
is less than 50%. Now, however, the
statistics have been raked through again and a more encouraging observation
advanced: Nearly 1/3 of OVCA patients can expect to reach a more distant
survival measure – 10 years. What traits
improve your chances? Detection at a
young age, detection at a lower stage, and having a less aggressive type of
OVCA.* Obviously some of these characters
are intertwined: Early detection surely correlates with lower grade, for
instance. Anyway, this article (and many
others like it is big news in ovarian oncology and does a lot to lighten the
OVCA gloom.
For the record, Linda had none of the above going for
her. She was in her 60s when diagnosed,
was at stage 3C, and had the most aggressive form of OVCA: serous epithelial. I often wonder what she had done
to deserve all this bad luck. Maybe she
was just too nice.
*And let's toss quality of care into the mix, although it wasn't mentioned in the article.
*And let's toss quality of care into the mix, although it wasn't mentioned in the article.
This obviously is considered important news, because the next day Google Alerts "alerted" me to three more articles on the same subject.
ReplyDeleteGood to read about factors that effect increased survival of ovarian cancer. Absolutely, 'quality of care' can be a positive influence too. Show of hands: how many would VOTE for more money spent on women's health? This will be an issue in the coming 2016 elections.
ReplyDelete