Unusual menstrual bleeding
Only 10% of women are diagnosed while the cancer is still confined to the ovaries, which is called Stage I. Once it spreads to the pelvic area, it is considered Stage II and is then diagnosed in approximately 15% of women. A sobering 75% of women are diagnosed at Stage III or Stage IV, which is where it has spread to more distant parts of the body and is extremely difficult to control or eradicate.
Remembering one important aspect is that women do not die from disease of the ovary, but from the cancer spreading to where it doesn't belong and affecting other organs. Because ovarian cancer is often not detected early, the overall 5-year survival rate for women afflicted with the disease is only between 37 and 47 percent, depending upon the staging of the tumor. Again, breaking down those percentages, it is saying that less than 50% of the women will survive 5 years or more from the disease. In essence, place yourself standing in a room with 2 other women, the odds are that roughly 1 will survive while the other 2 will die from the disease.
Just to make the information a tad more relatable, I will explain the experience my own mother encountered with the illness. My mother was a very busy woman both managing a home and working full-time as a beautician. She was growing more tired as time passed and everyone, including her, attributed the tiredness to "getting older" and "working so much." Along with that theory, she had always had a chronic problem with constipation so that when that symptom occurred, no one was alarmed because it was the "normal pattern" for her. Her abdominal girth began to thicken somewhat and of course everyone attributed that to the "middle age spread" as she was 58 years old at the time. Unfortunately, all of these symptoms were danger lights flashing to warn us....would any of you have noticed the alarm of possible ovarian cancer if you had not read this page at this moment? Probably not...just as none of us did either. Here I was, a Registered Nurse, and agreeing with mostly everything other people including her said regarding the symptoms. Ovarian cancer just isn't a disease where you can clearly say "ok, there is bleeding from the rectum and something is wrong" or "ok, he/she is coughing up blood and there is something happening here". The signs and symptoms are extremely insidious and the disease is just as "sneaky" in its development taking a long period of time to develop and spread. By the time my mother was diagnosed, she had developed multiple bowel obstructions which caused the investigation to find the underlying cause of the obstructions. Unfortunately, the advancement of her illness was at Stage IV and basically inoperable other than palliative measures which would "debulk" the tumor and perhaps offer her a few more weeks or months to live. Not to say that all Stage IV diagnosed patients are inoperable, but it does call attention to the decreasing possibility of eradification of the disease as the Staging increases in levels.
Studies which may be performed to detect the presence of Ovarian Cancer may include:
Mandatory annual vaginal exam for women 18 years old and above and annual rectovaginal exam for women 35 years and above.
Transvaginal ultrasonography, especially for those at high risk.
Blood test to determine if the level of a tumor marker called CA-125 has increased in the blood for women at high risk. This test is not relied upon totally because some malignant ovarian tumors do not affect the CA-125 level and will result in normal values despite the presence of a malignancy.
If any of the tests listed above are positive, a consultation with a gynecological oncologist should be considered.
Ovarian cancer may be hereditary, especially in first degree relatives, such as mother, daughter, or sister and has had ovarian, breast, or colon cancer. Also, women with a strong ovarian cancer in the family will tend to develop the disease at a younger age. Women of Eastern European Jewish descent also have a higher incidence of contracting the disease if they had a family member afflicted with it.
Other risk factors which promote the development of ovarian cancer include:
Personal history of breast, endometrial, or colon cancer
Uninterrupted ovulation (infertility, never used birth control pills, or no pregnancies)
Increasing age
At this point in time there aren't any definite known ways to prevent ovarian cancer from occurring; however, there are certain theories which may aid in the prevention of the disease.
They are as follows:
Oral contraception -- Use of oral contraceptives for a total of 5 years can decrease the risk by as much as 60%
Breast-feeding and pregnancy -- Having one or more children, especially if the first is born before the age of 30, plus breast-feeding may decrease the incidence of the disease
Tubal ligation -- a procedure done to prevent pregnancy and does not prevent all or most of ovarian cancer, and should only be done for valid medical reasons and not just for prevention of ovarian cancer.
...Help In Preventing The Occurrence 
