Final Project

Cancer is one of the diseases whose preeminence has increased in recent years. Increasing number of people are falling ill and succumbing to cancer. Though much research has been done on the subject, scientists are still unaware as to what actually trigger cancerous cells. However, it is evident that certain lifestyles leave one with a greater predisposition to acquire the disease. Cancer can occur in any part of the body. Cancer treatment is usually a mix of medicine and chemotherapy treatment that targets the cancerous cells in the body and inundates them with radioactive beams to that they are destroyed. This treatment option has many drawbacks but currently it is the only way to cure cancer.

This paper will focus on ovarian cancer, a type of cancer that manifests itself in the ovaries. This type of cancer is pervasive and if unchecked can affect other internal organs leading to a terminal condition. When it comes to cancer, early diagnosis is the key to beating the disease. When the ovaries start developing cancerous cells, the symptoms are not immediately apparent. One can continue living a normal life blissfully unaware of the affliction in their womb. As the cancer progresses, the symptoms begin to manifest themselves. These include pelvic pain, bloating, and abdominal swelling among other symptoms. If the ovarian cancer goes untreated, it affects the lining of the bowel progressing to the lymph nodes lungs and liver.

Research conducted on people who have ovarian cancer has found out that the more a woman ovulates, the more they are at risk of ovarian cancer. This statement is true for both women who have had children and who have not had children. Girls who begin ovulating at a younger age or who reach menopause much later in life are at much greater risk of ovarian cancer. Research has also found out that genetics is one of the biggest risk factors in ovarian cancer. Scientists have uncovered several mutations in the genes that leave some women with a higher possibility of acquiring ovarian cancer.

Ovarian cancer occurs in different formats, scientists have uncovered over thirty types of this cancer. These types are classified based on what type of cell they sprout from. Among the common types of cancer include epithelial tumors; this type of cancer begins in the cells that line the outer surface of the ovary. Most tumors of this nature are benign, but they can still metastasize into a more harmful form. Epithelial tumors that turn cancerous are called carcinomas. This is the most common form of ovarian cancer. Most women who start-developing carcinomas go undiagnosed until the disease is at a much-advanced stage. Over ninety prevent of ovarian cancers are epithelial carcinomas.

Other types of ovarian cancers include stromal tumors and germ cell tumors. Germ cell tumors start developing from the reproductive cells that produces the ova. In most cases, this type of tumor is also benign although a possibility exists of it turning cancerous. The most common typed of germ cell tumors are maturing teratomas and dysgerminomas. Germ cell tumors most commonly occur in women in their teenage hood and early adulthood. The other type of ovarian cancer is stromal tumor. This type of tumor begins in the connective tissue that connects the ovaries and the cells that produce hormones. This type of tumor is quite rare compared to epithelial tumors.

In the early stages of cancer, the common symptoms, which point to ovarian cancer, are wholly absent. It is not easy to know unless one goes for regular specialized medical checks to test for the cancer. When the symptoms begin to manifest, they are usually very subtle and are easily misconstrued for something else. One can go on carrying the symptoms for a period before they realize that they have ovarian cancer. The formative stages of ovarian cancer are usually painless. It is when the tumor begins to grow that pain starts occurring. Early symptoms of ovarian cancer include abdominal pain; this may be a persistent pain or one that only occurs when one is moving. Other symptoms are back discomfort or pain, bloating, bleeding during sexual intercourse, irregular menstruation, postmenopausal vaginal bleeding, and urinary symptoms. The symptoms that occur when one has ovarian cancer are due to growth of the mass of tumor. The symptoms manifest when this mass starts to press against other abdominal organs. Ovarian cancer can also spread to these other organs; this can also lead to the symptoms described above. When one has a history of good health and immediately starts to experience these symptoms, they should consider ovarian cancer as the cause. The symptoms that manifest due to ovarian cancer depend on the type of tumor.

Several risk factors leave one with a greater predisposition to ovarian cancer; the most prevalent of these is the number of times one has ovulated. Thus, women who have had a significant number of children are at lesser risk of developing ovarian cancer because they spend much less time in ovulation. Not having children is a risk factor. Other risk factors include hormone therapy and obesity. Activities that one undertakes which reduce ovulation, such as contraceptives, pregnancies all reduce the risk of ovarian cancer. They do this because they reduce the overall amount of time that one has spent ovulating. Some generic condition that develops because of mutation or are inherited from the parent leaves one with a greater predisposition to ovarian cancer.

Use of hormone medication to treat fertility has been found to increase instances of ovarian cancer. Research has not been able to uncover the true reason for this only that these medications leave one with a greater risk of ovarian tumors. Women who go for fertility treatment can quickly develop epithelial tumors. This risk is reduced significantly when they become pregnant due to the shedding of cancerous cells during pregnancy. Other hormonal conditions such as polycystic ovary syndrome are usually associated with ovarian cancer.

Continuous ovulation is the biggest cause of ovarian cancer because during ovulation the reproductive cells are engaged in a continuous process of dividing themselves in accordance with the ovulatory cycles. Thus, people who have given birth to children are half as likely to develop ovarian cancer as people who have not had children. Ovulation reduces significantly during menopause thus menopausal women are at much lesser risk of ovarian cancer.

In industrialized nations, women have a greater chance of developing ovarian cancer. The major difference between these first world countries and other nations is diet. Leading research on the matter concludes that one’s diet can be a risk factor to ovarian cancer. White women are forty percent more likely to develop ovarian cancer as compared to Black and Hispanic people; again, here diet plays a crucial role. Another factor could be that White women usually have a lesser number of children.

The diagnosis for ovarian cancer mostly begins with a pelvic examination or a blood test for cancer markers. In cases where the tumor is of significant size, an ultrasound can be used to confirm the presence of ovarian cancer. Medical practitioners may also conduct a rectovaginal examination test for the cancer. After one has been diagnosed with ovarian cancer, doctors may conduct other diagnostic tests to determine the best procedure for surgery. In cases where the disease is much advanced it is common practice to conduct exploratory surgery to determine the spread of the cancer to the internal organs, this provides crucial information that helps during treatment. In the formative stages of ovarian cancer, it can be particularly hard to diagnose the disease because the symptoms that occur are not commonly specific to ovarian cancer. Because of this ovarian cancer is rarely diagnosed until it has advanced to later stages.

Ovarian cancer occurs due to an anomaly in the normal growth patterns of ocarina cells. Normally, when cells have reached the end of their lifecycles, they die and new cells take their place. Ovarian cancer occurs when new cells develop that do not replace old ones or old cells do not die, as they should. This creates a condition characterized by a buildup of cells that form a tumor. The cells that consist of the tumor usually have many abnormalities and genetic defect that cause them to reproduce uncontrollably. When the ovary releases an egg, the egg follicle bursts this structure is repaired by dividing the cells in the ovary. If one has ovarian cancer, the continuous ovulation and repair process can cause the cancerous cells to spread.

Several options are open for treatment depending on the progress of cancer. Surgery is the most commonly used form of treatment. Surgery is first conducted in the diagnosis process tissue samples. These samples are then used to determine the presence of cancer. Surgeons may perform a unilateral oophorectomy or a bilateral oophorectomy to remove the ovaries and the cancerous cells that they possess. In advanced cancer it is common practice to remove the all the ovaries combined with the uterus, fallopian tubes, and the omentum. This is necessary in order to reduce the possibility of the cancerous cells reoccurring. The preemptive surgery procedure usually leaves a woman barren and unable to bear children.

Chemotherapy is also used to treat ovarian cancer; it is done in tandem with surgery to provide the patient with the best chance of beating cancer. Chemotherapy may be conducted before or after surgery to remove cancerous tissue.

One of the biggest risk factors that cause ovarian cancer is genetics. Research has uncovered several mutations called BRCA1 and BRCA2. These mutations occur during the DNA replication and recombination. BRCA1 and BRCA2 are present in ten percent of ovarian cancer cases. Because these are genetic mutations, they can be passed on to the children through the mother or the father. People who possess these mutations are at an extremely high risk of developing ovarian cancer much more than people who develop the disease sporadically. Families whose members have had other form of cancer can also increase ones predisposition for ovarian cancer.

Generic abnormalities that case cancer are inheritable. Knowing this people can undergo genetic tests to determine if one possesses these faulty genes. The presence of these genes means that one is very likely to develop ovarian cancer in future. Preemptive measure can be conducted to reduce ones likelihood of acquiring the disease. These measures can include removing the reproductive system. Many startups have surfaced that make the genetic testing process easy; these tests identify all the genetic markers that give on a higher chance of acquiring a certain disease.

References

Hoffman, Barbara, Bradshaw, Cunningham, F. Gary (2012). "Epithelial Ovarian Cancer". Williams Gynecology (2nd ed.). McGraw Hill Medical.

Goff BA (June 2012). "Ovarian cancer: screening and early detection". Obstetrics and gynecology clinics of North America

Raymond W. (2007). “Cancer biology” (4th ed.). Oxford: Oxford University Press