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It begins somewhat silently, but it can end deadly. Caught late, victims have a survival rate of 20 to 40 percent. It is ovarian cancer, and it is the gynecological cancer with the highest mortality rate. Approximately one woman in 58 will develop ovarian cancer during her lifetime. Think you are protected against the disease? You may need to think again.

Ovarian cancer is particularly dangerous because – unlike most cancers – there is no way to detect it early. Often the only signs of the disease are routine symptoms, such as bloating, pelvic or abdominal pain, feeling full easily when eating or a frequent urge to urinate. Most women end up brushing the symptoms aside, believing they are caused by something else.

“The symptoms are symptoms that we all get from time to time,” Ronni Arno Blaisdell, director of communications and public outreach at the National Ovarian Cancer Coalition, said. “And I think that is what is so confusing to people. Every time I talk to people about ovarian cancer and I start listing the symptoms, they all panic, even the men, and say ‘Oh my gosh, I’ve had these symptoms before, that must mean I have ovarian cancer.’ And that’s not true.”

In fact, Blaisdell said that many women harbor serious misconceptions about the disease. One of the OCC's foremost tasks is educating the public on how ovarian cancer is detected and informing women that they are not routinely screened for it.

“I can’t tell you how many times I’ve been talking about [ovarian cancer] and somebody says, ‘Well, I don’t have to worry about it because I go to my gynecologist every year and get a Pap test.’ … The misconception is that if they go to their doctor every year, they are protected. That is not true. I’ve also heard people say ‘I’ve gotten the shot.’ There’s no shot,” she said.

Ovarian cancer, Blaisdell says, is not diagnosed during regular medical appointments. The Pap test that women receive when they visit their gynecologist only screens for cervical cancer, and not ovarian.

Because initial symptoms of ovarian cancer could indicate a wide range of underlying issues and can be rather mild, ovarian cancer is frequently misdiagnosed. Doctors may believe a patient has urinary tract infections, menopause symptoms, IBS, stress or a host of other disorders, and often refer women to an endless round of specialists. Years after first experiencing symptoms of the disease, patients discover they have had ovarian cancer the whole time and that it is now too late for many interventions.

In some cases, a patient's pain can become severe enough that a scan is performed and the cancer is finally caught. In other cases, the disease is detected by accident, when women visit their doctor for other complaints.

“People kind of ignore what’s going on in their bodies and by the time the disease is caught, it is often caught in late stage. And when it’s in late stage it’s much harder to treat and that is why we have a much higher mortality rate than other cancers,” Blaisdell said.

Early diagnosis is critical for patients' survival: Ovarian cancer is 90 percent curable if caught in stage one. During the later stages, the disease is curable less than half the time. When detected late, even women who survive may face treatments for the rest of their lives; the top three treatments are chemotherapy, radiation therapy and surgery.

“You really have to be your own best health advocate. You have to be aware of your own body and what’s normal for you,” Blaisdell said. “So if you know you bloat every month and it lasts for two days, you’re not going to panic if you have bloating for those two days, But if you find you are bloating for two weeks or longer, and that’s not normal for you, that’s when the red flags in your mind might go off and you might decide to go to your doctor.”

When a physician suspects a patient has ovarian cancer, three tests are commonly performed: a transvaginal ultrasound, a blood test for tumor markers and a pelvic/rectal exam. If a mass is discovered, women should undergo surgery to biopsy the mass.

Women with certain risk factors should be particularly cautious, including those with a personal or family history of ovarian cancer, breast cancer and colon cancer. Age is an especially important factor: Although children and teenagers can develop the disease, it is most common in women over the age of 45.

According to Blas, there is no way to stop the cancer's onset. “Right now there is no known method to prevent to ovarian cancer. So there is nothing you can do to definitively prevent it,” she said.

Certain lifestyle factors make women less likely to develop ovarian cancer. Taking oral contraceptives, breastfeeding, having many children, having a hysterectomy or removing of the ovaries, and getting the fallopian tubes tied reduce women’s risk, as do the usual preventative measures of healthy eating and exercise.

The National Ovarian Cancer Coalition aims to raise awareness and improve the survival rates and quality of life for women with the disease. The national office, together with local chapters of the organization, run many education and outreach programs across the country, sharing the risk factors, symptoms and other information women need to make an informed decision. Newly diagnosed patients receive a kit of materials to assist them through their struggle with the cancer, and can connect with a cancer survivor for support.

“Ovarian cancer diagnosis can be a very scary thing and I think it is nice to have information at your fingertips and also know there are other women going through this and those women are not alone,” Blaisdell said.

For National Ovarian Cancer Awareness Month this September, the National Ovarian Cancer Coalition is hosting an awareness campaign, including a promotion with seven-time Olympic gold medal winner and gymnast Shannon Miller (who was diagnosed with ovarian cancer a year ago) and a partnership with “The Dr. Oz Show” to educate the public during its Sept. 13 broadcast. Dr. Oz flew out to the NOCC’s Dallas headquarters to help organize a public education event at a mall, in which women were screened for risk factors and then given ultrasounds if they were determined to be high risk.

Anyone can get involved through local chapters’ activities, particularly the annual run/walks to break the silence. For more information, visit www.ovarian.org.

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