When a patient is diagnosed with ovarian cancer the first step is to visit a Gynecologist specializing in the comprehensive treatment of the disease.
The patient’s survival is increased up to 40% when the initial surgery is performed by a specialist and well-trained professional.
Ovarian Cancer is one of the hardest ones to diagnose because of the absence of symptoms and their lack of specificity.
80% of women who suffer from ovarian cancer are diagnosed in advanced stages, when the disease has spread beyond the ovaries, affecting the abdominal and pelvic cavities, the bowel, the spleen, the liver, or the peritoneum, even reaching the diaphragm.
An optimal surgery, meaning the complete removal of visible disease is the only variable on which we can currently act to increase survival.
It is an extremely complex surgery, where it is essential to have a multidisciplinary team of specialist professionals to ensure the best oncologic result.
The consequences of an inadequate initial treatment are often significantly harmful to the patient.
On the one hand, they negatively impact their prognosis and survival. On the other hand, they usually require surgical re-interventions, which prolong the duration of treatment and worsen the quality and quantity of life.
The main reasons why a woman with Ovarian Cancer does not consult an adequate specialist are:
● Preference for their treating Gynecologist, even when they are not specialists in the subject.
● Interest in starting treatment as soon as possible, thinking there is no time to lose searching for a professional specializing in the subject.
● Lack of interest or economic issues to go to a city where they can find a good professional.
● Not knowing there are Gynecologic Oncologists.
A great effort has been carried out in recent years to teach society about the importance of these professionals specializing in treating Ovarian Cancer, and the main progress in the subject has been a greater spread of the relevance of a surgery performed by Gynecologic Oncologists.
The first association of women suffering from ovarian cancer in Spain (ASACO) works daily towards this goal. The efforts are currently oriented toward the proper education of this type of professionals capable of performing this type of intervention.