The use of fertility treatments have been rapidly increasing as more and more women are putting off their first pregnancy as late as possible while assisted reproduction technology provides more and more possibilities that go beyond the norms, e.g. motherhood beyond the menopausal stage.

However, one of the major concerns of fertility treatments is the possible adverse affects on a woman’s health. Fertility drugs are used to stimulate a woman’s ovary to produce multiple egg cells in one go. There have been controversial studies that raised the question whether this stimulation can lead to ovarian cancer.

However, this study by researchers at the Danish Cancer Society gives the reassurance that the link between fertility drugs and ovarian cancer is mainly due to chance. Their results are based on data from 54,362 women handled in Danish fertility clinics from 1963 and 1998. Upon follow up, only a very small number – 156 – of these women developed ovarian cancer. This results held through even in women who underwent several (10 or more!) cycles of fertility treatments. It also didn’t make a difference whether the fertility treatments resulted in pregnancy or not. There is a slight elevation with one drug called clomiphene but this, too, is too low to be conclusive. The authors are convinced this, too, is purely by chance.

A caveat however, is the fact that it takes years, even decades for cancer to appear. Many of the study participants still haven’t reached the peak age for ovarian cancer. The monitoring will continue.

However, the results of the study are good news for women who are undergoing or are planning to undergo fertility treatments.

In 2007, US President George W. Bush proclaimed September as the National Ovarian Cancer Awareness Month. This month is dedicated to raise awareness about ovarian cancer, to remember the victims of this disease, and to show appreciation to the health care professionals who are helping fight the disease.

It is no coincidence that the 7^th Biennial Ovarian Cancer Symposium is being held in Seattle this month. During the two-day symposium (September 4 to 5), new scientific knowledge on ovarian cancer will be presented. More than 50 researchers will share their latest research findings.

It is estimated that more than 15,000 women die from cancer of the ovary every year. Those who survive lose their ovaries through surgery, resulting in infertility and premature menopausal.

Ovarian cancer is used to be called the “silent killer” because the symptoms of the disease only become evident at a very late stage – thus making it difficult to treat. Research is therefore being stepped up on early detection diagnostic tests – with promising reuslts. Last June, a combination of symptom screening and blood tests increased the efficiency of early detection of ovarian cancer by 20%. It is expected that this month’s symposium will bring more good tidings and bring us a step closer to beating ovarian cancer.

According to the Marsha Rivkin Center for Ovarian Cancer Research, the most common symptoms of ovarian cancer are as follows:

• Bloating, discomfort or pain in the abdomen
• Increased abdominal size
• Feeling full right after eating
• Increased frequency in urinations
• Constipation
• Lack of energy
• Vaginal bleeding

The late stage of pregnancy is a good time for a woman to begin thinking about methods of birth control for after the baby’s born. The sheer exhaustion of caring for a newborn may act as ‘natural birth control’ for a while, but eventually, passion will take over and you’ll want to re-connect with the parent of your new baby on a more adult level once again.

If you’re positive you don’t want anymore children’whether you just had number one, number 69 (the most babies ever born to one mother in history) or somewhere in between’tubal ligation surgery, having your ‘tubes tied,’ might be the way to go.

Why should the burden fall on the woman? Isn’t a vasectomy a simple, in-office procedure that your husband can have, while tubal ligation is major surgery?

Good points, but, according to the American Cancer Society, tubal ligation for birth control also may have health benefits in preventing ovarian cancer.

Ovarian cancer often falls in breast cancer’s highly-publicized shadow as a ‘woman killer,’ but it is, in fact, the eighth most common cancer overall, and the fifth leading cause of cancer death. Your chance of contracting ovarian cancer is roughly one in 71, but researchers think there may be a correlation with ovulation and the cancer. For this reason, taking birth control pills may reduce the risk of ovarian cancer, as will tubal ligation for permanent birth control. The less times, over the course of your life, your ovaries release an egg, the less likely you are to contract ovarian cancer.

Most ovarian cancers occur post-menopause; in fact, half of them are found in women over the age of 63, so another good preventative measure is to continue with annual pelvic exams late into life. Additionally, keep your weight in check, as obese women are 50 percent more likely to die from the disease.

In the U.S. in 2008, the ACS predicts 21,000 new cases of ovarian cancer will be diagnosed, with 15,000 of those resulting in death. It’s time to bring this woman-killer out of the shadows and work to start preventing the disease.

]]> http://blogs.babiesonline.com/health/birth-control-may-prevent-ovarian-cancer/feed/ 1 http://blogs.babiesonline.com/news/new-study-shows-that-birth-control-pill-lowers-risk-of-ovarian-cancer/ http://blogs.babiesonline.com/news/new-study-shows-that-birth-control-pill-lowers-risk-of-ovarian-cancer/#comments Sun, 27 Jan 2008 01:01:18 +0000 Amybee http://blogs.babiesonline.com/2008/01/26/new-study-shows-that-birth-control-pill-lowers-risk-of-ovarian-cancer/

British researchers have found that taking the birth control pill lowers women?s chance of getting ovarian cancer. Women taking the pill for 15 years cut their chances of getting this often fatal form of cancer in half.

The information comes from a series of 45 studies conducted worldwide of over 120,000 women, some with ovarian cancer and some without, both on and off the pill. The studies showed that women who took oral contraceptives for a decade were less likely to develop ovarian cancer. Without the pill, about 12 women per 1,000 are expected to get ovarian cancer before age 75 but only 8 in 1,000 are expected to get it of those on the pill.

So far, 200,000 cases of ovarian cancer and 100, 000 deaths from the disease are estimated to have been prevented by taking the pill.

While the pill protects against ovarian cancer, it slightly increases the chances of getting breast and cervical cancer. However, since there is no early test for ovarian cancer, which is often detected late and with a bad prognosis, doctors say that the benefits against ovarian cancer outweigh the small increased risk of getting the other types of cancer.

Dr. Valerie Berel, head of the study, said that oral contraceptives are the first medication that is known to decrease ovarian cancer. Yet, at this point, most doctors do not recommend taking the pill exclusively for its anti-cancer properties, as taking it does come with potential side effects, such as increased risk of blood clots and high blood pressure.

Some experts are calling for better access to oral contraceptives, claiming that they should become available over the counter. As the pill becomes more available worldwide, experts expect the incidence of ovarian cancer to continue to fall.

Researchers report that therapeutic vaccines to fight breast and ovarian cancer are in the first stage of clinical trials to determine their effectiveness and safety.

Dr. Leisha A. Emens, assistant professor of oncology at Johns Hopkins University is working on a new therapeutic vaccine to fight breast cancer. The vaccine is designed to treat HER-2/neu disease, a particularly aggressive type of breast cancer. The vaccine is designed to stimulate the body’s immune system to fight the cancer.

Emens has found that combining the the vaccine with specific currently used chemotherapy drugs increases the vaccine’s effectiveness. She is also working on a vaccine that when used in conjunction with chemotherapy, would prevent blood vessels from feeding the cancer, essentially starving and killing the cancer cells. So far, Emens and her colleagues have enrolled eight breast cancer patients in the treatment and have seen positive results. By continuing their research and further developing immune-based and gene-based therapy, Emens says we can expect to cure breast cancer in our lifetime.

The vaccine for ovarian cancer, developed by Dr. George Coukos, assistant professor at University of Pennsylvania’s division of gynecologic oncology, is designed to “re-educate” the patient’s immune system cells to destroy cancer cells. The trial is a phase I/II trial that is just getting started, and will include about 30 women with ovarian cancer. The trial is being used to test two different new drugs, to see which is more effective. It involves creating individualized cancer vaccines composed of a patient’s own cells, so treatments are customized for individual patients.

There were some 22, 430 new cases of ovarian cancer and approximately 15, 280 deaths from the disease in the U.S. in 2007. About 178, 480 U.S. women will be diagnosed with invasive breast cancer this year and about 40, 460 will die from the disease, according to the American Cancer Society. These staggering numbers are certainly reason to support and hope for cures to these devastating diseases.

www.everydayhealth.com

A 20 year old woman from Scotland recently gave birth to a healthy son despite having had an ovary removed and chemotherapy at the age of 13. Linda Roome was the youngest person in Britain to be diagnosed with ovarian cancer, which usually develops in women over 50 and tends to go undiagnosed for some time due to the lack of symptoms. At the time, her biggest concern was losing her hair.

It was assumed that because of this she would not be able to have children and as time went on she realised how much she wanted a child, and then, to her surprise, found that she was pregnant. Her son, Callum, was born weighing 8lb 8oz and even at this size was smaller than the tumour that she had removed, which had weight 10lb.

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