Long-term ovarian cancer survival higher than thought

http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2015-08/uoc--loc080515.php

Public Release: 5-Aug-2015
Long-term ovarian cancer survival higher than thought
UC Davis study should help guide patients and their oncologists
University of California - Davis Health System

Combing data collected on thousands of California ovarian cancer patients, UC Davis researchers have determined that almost one-third survived at least 10 years after diagnosis.

The unprecedented findings upend the notion that women diagnosed with cancer of the ovary always face a poor chance of survival. In fact, while the study confirmed earlier findings on characteristics associated with ovarian cancer survival -- younger age, earlier stage and lower grade tumors at diagnosis -- it also identified a surprising number of long-term survivors who didn't meet those criteria.

"The perception that almost all women will die of this disease is not correct," says Rosemary Cress, lead author of the paper, published online today in the Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology.

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As expected, the study found that the majority of the long-term survivors were younger, had early-stage disease when they were diagnosed and their tumors were of a lower-risk tissue type. What struck the researchers was that of the 3,582 long-term survivors, 954 of them had been considered to be at high risk of dying from their disease, either because of their tumor stage, grade or older age at diagnosis.

"This information is important for patient counseling," says study co-author Gary Leiserowitz, a professor of gynecologic oncology and interim chair of the UC Davis Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology. "Many patients and physicians know that ovarian cancer is a dangerous cancer, but they don't realize that there is significant biological variability among patients. It's not a uniformly fatal prognosis."

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