World Ovarian Cancer Day!! 8 May 2013 was the first World Ovarian Cancer Day. On this day, ovarian cancer organisations from around the world united to educate their communities about ovarian cancer and its symptoms.  Ovarian Cancer is one of the commonest cancers occuring in elderly females. However ovarian cancer has the lowest survival rate of all other gynaecological malignancies as ovarian cancer is most commonly diagnosed at the advanced stages. There is unmet need of increasing awareness regarding Ovarian Cancer and it's treatment modalities. Risk factors for development of Ovarian Cancer include: 1) Family History of ovarian cancer/breast cancer 2) Increasing age 3) BRCA 1 or BRCA 2 mutations 4) Obesity 5) smoking Most common symptoms of Ovarian Cancer: 1) Abdominal fullness 2) Bloating sensation 3) Increased urinary frequency 4) abdominal distension If any of these symptoms are occuring frequently plz do not neglect and consult your gynaecologist or oncologist for examination. If required doctor will advice further tests for confirmation like 1) Ultrasound of abdomen 2) blood tests like CA 125 3) CT scan 4) sometimes abdominal fluid testing / biopsy if required. 5) Genetic testing BRCA 1/2 if required after proper genetic counselling With new advances in treatment, now ovarian cancer can be managed very well with multimodality treatment 1) Surgery - Surgery is the mainstay of treatment of ovarian cancer.Surgery is performed with the aim to remove the disease as completely as possible. 2) HIPEC- Heated intraperitoneal Chemotherpy is recent advance in surgical treatment of ovarian cancer which includes instillation of heated chemotherpy in abdominal cavity after complete removal of cancer.This increases the chances of local control and reduces the chances of recurrence 3) Chemotherpy- Multiagent systemic chemotherpy is given either before surgery in advanced cancers so as to reduce the tumor burden and facilitate surgery, or can be given after surgery to reduce the chances of recurrence.Chemotherapy is also one of the most important components of treatment of Ovarian Cancer. 4) Targeted therapy- Anti VEGF or PARP inhibitors are some of the newer advances in treatment of advanced ovarian cancer. If diagnosed early and treated systematically we can definitely win over Ovarian Cancer!! World Ovarian Cancer Day | Ovarian Cancer Awareness | HIPEC | Chemotherpy in Ovarian Cancer| Dr Rahul Kulkarni | Oncologist in Pune|