Every day throughout September, OCRF will present one new fact about ovarian cancer.
1. In 1809 Dr. Ephraim McDowell of Danville, Kentucky became the first surgeon in the world to successfully remove an ovarian tumor. The patient survived the surgery and went on to live a long life.
2. Some researchers are investigating evidence for the premise that an effective therapeutic vaccine against ovarian cancer is useful not only for inducing remission of the disease but also for preventing disease relapse. (Journal of Hematology & Oncology 2010, 3:7, Liu, B., Nash, J., Runowicz, C., Swede, H., Stevens, R., and Li, Z.)
3. A woman's lifetime risk of developing ovarian cancer is 1 in 71, with most cases developing post-menopause.
4. The symptoms of ovarian cancer, such as bloating, pelvic or abdominal pain, feeling of fullness or urinary issues, can be subtle but are often present early.
5. Approximately 22,000 women in the United States will be diagnosed with ovarian cancer this year.
6. Approximately 37% of OCRF grantees have been women; 43% are racial or ethnic minorities.
7. University of Adelaide geneticist Dr. Frank Grutzner is studying DNA mapping of the platypus and believes he may have uncovered an interesting relationship between their sex chromosomes and DNA sequences found in human ovarian cancer. (Science News, June, 2009)
8. Ovarian cancer has a 46% five-year survival rate and receives $8.8 million in research from the Department of Defense (FY08); breast cancer has a five-year survival rate of 89% and receives $122.8 million (FY08).
9. Among women in the United States, ovarian cancer is the eighth most common cancer, and the fifth leading cause of cancer deaths.
