Ovarian Cancer

In this week’s episode, we speak with author and avid patient advocate Shannon Pulaski about her new efforts to help empower children to learn about their family’s health history.

In recent years, treatment has expanded for mutations that are well-understood in this space.

A recent survey of physicians revealed that 17 percent of doctors with personal experience with cancer were more likely than those without to act against established guidelines to recommend that low-risk women receive ovarian cancer screening.

According to a recent study conducted at the University of Alabama at Birmingham Schools of Public Health and Medicine, disparities among patients who receive instructions for this follow-up care still exist.

Through correspondence with TV personality Fred Rogers, one survivor of cancer found hope and inspiration.

In recent decades, researchers have gained a much better understanding of how gynecologic cancers develop, especially for women who carry genetic mutations.

A common goal for palliative care is pain management, where opioids like morphine are often on the frontline. Then, practitioners may build on medications from there, adding agents such as gabapentin and tricyclic antidepressants. But if those don’t work, Christopher J. Pietras, M.D. said that ketamine may be an option.

The combination use of Tumor Treating Fields plus paclitaxel more than doubled progression-free survival, with no serious treatment-related side effects in women with recurrent, platinum-resistant ovarian cancer.

Chemotherapy and PARP inhibitors may share some side effects, but there are some major differences between the two when it comes to treating ovarian cancer.

Researchers are on the hunt for a better biomarker in ovarian cancer that could detect the disease in earlier stages.

We spoke to ovarian cancer survivors about their advice for women who are newly diagnosed.

An expert discusses ways to complement cancer treatment and potentially improve outcomes.

The health care experts call it financial toxicity. I call it an agonizing, stress-inducing, horrifying choice between financial ruin and treatment of a life-threatening disease.

Researchers reviewed the cases of more than 20,000 women – some who went on to develop ovarian cancer, and some who didn’t – and found that there was a small, but statistically significant increase in ovarian cancer incidence in women who reported having severe menstrual pain.

Audra Moran, president and CEO of the Ovarian Cancer Research Fund Alliance, discusses the support available for caregivers of women with ovarian cancer.

Investigators are learning how to take a tumor biopsy from a patient, grow small tumors called organoids in the lab, and test cancer treatments on them to see which work best.

Thanks to targeted drugs and evolving research, women who experience recurrences of ovarian cancer have more treatment options than they did in the past..

Saketh Guntupalli, M.D., gynecologic oncologist at the University of Colorado Hospital, discusses ways that women can improve intimacy after an ovarian cancer diagnosis.

The first thing a woman should do after receiving a diagnosis of ovarian cancer, according to Teresa P. Díaz-Montes, M.D., M.P.H., is nothing. At least not right away.

New treatments are continually being explored as researchers use genetic testing and genomic sequencing to better understand characteristics of ovarian cancer that can be targeted with drugs.

PARP inhibitors have made for new and exciting treatment options for ovarian cancer, but there is still much more work to be done, according to Dennis J. Slamon, M.D., Ph.D.

Adversity early on in life and increased stress levels could impact ovarian cancer outcomes – even if these instances happen before a woman is diagnosed, according to a recent article published in the journal Cancer.

Take a look at the top five CURE stories of June 2018 in this video.

PARP inhibitors continue to impress in the ovarian cancer space, as findings from the recent phase 3 SOLO-1 trial showed that Lynparza (olaparib) showed clinically-meaningful improvement in progression-free survival (PFS) when used in the first-line maintenance setting.

Folate receptor alpha was a promising biomarker when it came to treatment with mirvetuximab soravtansine.

A recent review of data found that 79 percent of patients with ovarian cancer felt uncomfortable raising psychological and emotional concerns during their consultations.

In the QUADRA study, treatment with Zejula (niraparib) demonstrated durable responses among women with relapsed or refractory ovarian cancer, regardless of BRCA mutation.

Lynch syndrome – a hereditary condition that increases a person’s risk for developing several types of cancer – is common among people with microsatellite instability-high (MSI-H) tumors, linking it to several new cancer types, according to large genomic study results presented at the 2018 American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) Annual Meeting.

The Food and Drug Administration approved a combination of Avastin (bevacizumab) plus the chemotherapy agents carboplatin and paclitaxel, followed by Avastin alone, for the treatment of patients with advanced ovarian cancer who have had surgical resection.

The FDA approved the Paxman Scalp Cooling System for patients with solid tumors who wish to prevent chemotherapy-related hair loss.