News

Think Teal: Raising Awareness of Ovarian Cancer

Feb 22, 2018

As part of Ovarian Cancer Awareness Month, Head of Gynaecology, A/Prof Russell Land, has spoken about early warning signs, promising new research, and how to support someone with a diagnosis.

Q: What are the symptoms of ovarian cancer?

A: “Classic warning signs are abdominal distention, pain, and bladder pressure that just don’t go away. Everybody will get bloating at some point in their lives – both male and female – but if it doesn’t dissipate in 6-8 weeks you should have it investigated. That doesn’t mean it is definitely ovarian cancer – it could be a myriad of other things – but you should always listen to your body. If you don’t feel things are right then you should be seeing a GP for a check. Ultrasounds are very simple to get to make sure your ovaries are fine, particularly if you have a family history of breast or ovarian cancer.”

Q: Is there any promising research underway?

A: “There is a new blood test in its early phase of development which screens for eight serious cancers – and ovarian cancer is one of them. Hopefully, this test called CancerSEEK could be the type of thing that will really give us a big shot at improving patient survival. At present, prophylactic surgery for at-risk patients is our biggest way to obtain a risk reduction. So it would be an awesome step forward to be able to detect early-stage cancers or to pinpoint patients who are very likely to get the disease.”

Another thing running at the moment is the ECHO trial* which is all about exercise during chemotherapy. An exercise physiologist develops a program appropriate to the patients to help them through their chemotherapy regime. We think it helps mentally, physically, and perhaps even in the outcomes of their therapy. Patients potentially cope better with the treatment and actually perhaps get a better outcome. That trial is currently running in Brisbane, including at Greenslopes Private Hospital, and is still in the recruitment phase.

Thirdly, immunotherapy has a lot of promise; it is a treatment to modify your immune system or target specific receptors on cells to be very accurate in killing the cancer cells but not affecting the normal cells. There are a couple of trials that have happened regarding immunotherapy and a couple more in the pipeline.

Q: What are some ways to show support for a loved one with ovarian cancer?

A: It’s not a contagious problem and they just want to hear from you and know you’re there. Treatment can make patients tired but try to do anything you can to help out. It could be as simple as cooking a meal or taking them out for a coffee.

Q: What is your take-home message during Ovarian Cancer Awareness Month?

A: Current therapy works extremely well if we can get the patients early enough. Unfortunately we don’t get patients in that really early stage of disease as often as we would like in order to be able to institute current treatment. So my message would be: don’t put your head in the sand; listen to your body. If you feel like you’re not being heard, see someone else for a second opinion.

*funding from Cancer Australia, Cancer Council Australia, World Cancer Research Fund International