Age

Many people keep telling me that because my mom is older, that the cancer spreads slower.  Physiologically I can understand why people would say that.  I think I read this is true for another cancer - I think breast cancer - but Im not sure if it applies to ovca.

When my mom was gettin her scans done, the nurses at the hospital said the same thing to her.  Is it true?  Does being older cause the cancer to spread slower?

[livertrans]

I have never heard this about ovarian cancer.  I know the doctors told my parents that when my Dad was diagnosed with prostrate cancer.  I thougth speed of progress in other cancers was determined by its' classification.
I will wait to hear what others have to say about this as I am curious.

[MickeyVicki]

Concerned, I work as a personal care assistant, specializing in home-bound elderly. Some of my clients have been cancer patients.  I too have been told that,  due to the general aging of ALL the cells in the body,  some cancers spread slower in the elderly.    Aging is a natural process that is caused in part by the reduced ability of the cells to replicate themselves.    (Yes, that is an over-simplified statement but I really do not want to pontificate on the issue!) Thus, one could expect even cancer cells to be affected.    And this may very well be  the reason that your mother's doctors were willing to sit back and watch the cyst instead of quickly removing it.  

Speaking of age, I think perhaps I should put the all these statistics that you read into perspective for you.  Given your mother's age, she was more likely to die of a heart attack, stroke, or a fall than of  cancer.  Indeed, this is still likely to be true.  And I knew two people with cancers who were told respectively that they would live for only 6 months and two years (with aggressive treatments at that!) Well, both lived approximately 9 years.  One died from injuries sustained in an auto accident, and the other from an infection. Their respective cancers (yes, one was ovca) did not kill them.

[ConcernedInNY]

I just wonder if its true that it will spread slower for her due to her age.  I even asked some of the hotlines that question and no one seems to know.