Metastatic Cancer : Ovarian Edition

Ovarian cancers are a group of diseases that affect a woman's ovaries. Ovarian tumors can be benign (noncancerous) or malignant (cancerous).  Although they are abnormal, cells of benign tumors do not spread to other parts of the body (metastasize). Ovarian cysts are different than ovarian tumors, and can be fairly common. Ovarian cysts are fluid-filled while ovarian tumors are solid masses. Most ovarian cysts are not harmful and are not indicative of risk for future ovarian cancer, though some complex ovarian cysts can raise the risk.

Metastasis is a medical term that means the cancer has spread to a different body part from where it originally started. There are a lot of different terms Doctors will use to classify this including "advanced cancer," "stage 4 cancer," & "metastasized/metastatic cancer." That being said, all of these terms can mean different things. One example of this could be a cancer that is large but has not spread to any other body parts. This wouldn't be "metastatic" although it could be considered advanced cancer or locally advanced cancer.

Metastatic ovarian cancer is an advanced stage of cancerous tumors that has spread from the cells in the ovaries to distant areas of the body. Typically the common areas of metastasized cancer are in the liver, lungs, lymph nodes, and bones although it can also spread to the brain. Even after metastatic cancer spreads to a new location, it is still named after the area of the body where it started.

So how do they treat it?

The two most common treatments are surgery and chemotherapy. Some women have targeted cancer drug treatment or radiotherapy. It might not be possible to have surgery if you have very advanced cancer or you are not well enough. Chemotherapy is often suggested on its own to shrink the cancer as much as possible and to slow it down. They may also recommend radiotherapy to relieve symptoms, depending on where in the body the cancer has spread.

Ovarian Cancer is devastating and can destroy you if you let it. One of my dearest friends has been battling Ovarian Cancer since she was 17 and she is the biggest badass I’ve ever seen. I pray that one day we will have more answers and more information readily available. It’s not right that so many women are suffering from this and there’s very little research on the subject. Ovarian cancer has no cure and therefore is classified as a chronic illness. I will be posting a lot more posts like this and I hope to see more posts like this to make them as factual as possible.

Check out https://ocrahope.org for more information!