I was dx 5 yrs ago with ova--I am now 79--After surgery 5 years ago I had chemo for the usual time--Then I went into remission for 3 and half years--It came back again and went into chemo again--am now in remmision again for 1 year-So dont give up hope for your Mother--I am still going strong--

My only sign of the cancer was a pain in my right side for a couple days si I went to get a cat scan--they not only found the cancer but also an anyerism in my arota--So I had to have surgery for that too (after my hystrectemy) so you see us old gals are pretty tough--I was very lucky and blessed to get thru chemo with not much trouble except for tiredness--So tell you Mom to hang in there and keep a positive out look--the Doc said that probaby helps more than anything--God Bless and keep that chin up (both of them LOL)

Miss Petey

Hi Milashka. Those numbers are a little more encouraging and Id liek to think that the current true stats are even higher.  Those numbers - is that all women diagnosed regardless of Stage?

Breast cancer may be more common, but public awareness must be raised with regard to ovca.  I dont care if its a less common disease...women need help to battle this.

God bless us all.

Actually, advances were made in the last decade or two...I quote from a John Hopkins webpage:

"Advances in the treatment and early detection of ovarian cancer have led to gains in 5-year survival rates, with 52% of women diagnosed between 1992 and 1997 surviving 5 years or longer, compared with 41% of women diagnosed between 1983 and 1985."

Please keep in mind that the latest statistics only reflect results from women that were diagnosed, and treated (with what was available THEN), several years ago. Someone who survived 5 years and for us to know about it would have been diagnosed in 1998 or so (allow some time for treatment and analysis of data). Current, newer and possibly more effective treatments will not show up in the statistics until much later. In other words, the data for treatment results from 2005/2006 is not in yet and when it does come in, might reflect yet another increase in survival time! That's what I like to think anyway.

It irks me sometimes that breast cancer gets so much attention and funding, and it now has a cure rate of 87%. But we have to keep in mind that it is more common than OvCa, so more women need help with breast cancer than ovarian cancer...it sucks for us but it makes sense to put more effort into what effects the most people.

I do agree with you about the survival rates - in fact the ones you were quoted are more optimistic than the ones I've seen.  Compared with breast cancer survival developments ovca is way behind, and re the new ovca treatments for relapses (very high rate for ovca) - if you look closely at the trial results they have quite low response rates.  However, they do now have a larger 'armoury' of drugs than a few years ago and more effective combinations.  I just hope they work better in the future!  I suspect there are just far more women with breast cancer who have been able to co-ordinate pressure on organisations particularly the 'big pharmas' to concentrate on their research.  They have great PR here (UK) as well and major stores sell their pins and have plastic bags with their message on.  I've had a bit of a moan about this in one national store and pointed out that many other types of cancer are not getting that type of exposure.  Ovca organisations just do what they can - they have a special month to focus the public's attention but it's not continuous like breast cancer.  Shouldn't really moan about breast cancer's approach - a lot more women have been dying of it.  I just wish we could get the same successes.

One bit of good news I heard yesterday at the clinic - a huge research project is now taking place 'Risk Prediction and Early Detection of Ovarian Cancer'.  In the UK it's being co-ordinated from my hospital although it involves 8,500 women in the UK, and some teams in the USA.  The study will be combined with answers from similar studies being carried out in Australia, USA and other parts of the world.  You may find yourselves being involved.  Mostly it's just about completing detailed questionnaires about your medical history, but they will also be taking tissue and blood samples from confirmed ovca patients.  The study aims to answer 2 crucial questions:  'Why do some women develop ovca and not others' by comparing the biological and genetic factors of confirmed cases and women who haven't developed ovca to find out any predictive factors.  Second, 'Is there a better test than CA125 for detecting ovca early and monitoring its course?' by comparing various substances in blood etc  Given the current comments about the unreliability of CA125 that should really help.  This second part is being funded and supported by Cancer Research UK and a large pharmaceutical company.

Some of this has been attempted before but the scale of this and its collaborative nature might come up with better answers.  It will take some time - probably quite a few years.  

Sorry about the long screed!  I know you want so much for your mother to survive and be well.  I do hope her treatment is successful - concentrate on the 50% survival rate, not the other.  best wishes