Women Health Issues Continued

Endometrial Cancer is the uncontrolled growth and spread of abnormal cells from the inner lining of the uterus. It is the most common cancer of the female reproductive organs.

Symptoms: Postmenopausal bleeding or heavy and irregular spotting or bleeding is the most common sign of endometrial cancer. Pelvic pain may occur but is very rare. Although there are many causes of irregular bleeding, you should visit a gynecologist as soon as possible if you experience these symptoms.

Risk factors: A woman's risk of developing endometrial cancer is related to her lifetime exposure to the female hormone, estrogen. Anything that increases a woman's exposure to estrogen also increases her risk of endometrial cancer.

Estrogen exposure may be increased by:

• Early periods (before the age of 12)
• Late menopause (after the age of 52)
• Never having children
• A history of failure to ovulate
• Tamoxifen (A hormonal drug used for breast cancer treatment and breast cancer risk reduction.)

Other risk factors for endometrial cancer include:

• diabetes
• gallbladder disease
• hypertension
• obesity

*Estrogen replacement therapy (used to treat menopausal symptoms)

Diagnosis: Your gynecologist will review your medical history and do a complete physical exam. If a diagnosis of endometrial cancer is suspected, your doctor will suggest a sample of the endometrium be removed for testing

Treatments: There are four basic types of treatment: surgery, radiation therapy, hormonal therapy and chemotherapy. A combination of these treatments may also be used.

Prevention: Although most cases of endometrial cancer cannot be prevented, there are certain things a woman can do to lower her risk of developing this disease.

Oral contraceptives can reduce endometrial cancer risk. The risk is lowest in women who take oral contraceptives for a long time. This protection continues for at least 10 years after a woman stops taking oral contraceptives.

To avoid other known risk factors for this type of cancer: 

• Control obesity and diabetes
• Ask your health care provider to assess your risk of endometrial cancer if you are experiencing menopause and are considering estrogen replacement therapy there is evidence that the use of progestins can reduce the risk.
• Obtain proper treatment of pre-cancerous disorders of the endometrium like hyperplasia

Ovarian cancer begins in the ovaries, a pair of almond-sized organs of the female reproductive system that produces eggs and female hormones.

Symptoms: In many cases, ovarian cancer has no specific symptoms until its later stages. Symptoms of ovarian cancer may often be mild and include any of the following:

·         Abdominal discomfort and/or pain

·         Nausea, diarrhea, constipation, or frequent urination

·         Loss of appetite

·         A feeling of fullness after eating a light meal

·         Unexplained weight gain or loss

·         Abnormal vaginal bleeding

However, many of these symptoms can be caused by less serious conditions, so it is important for a woman to bring them to the attention of her doctor.

Risk Factors: According to the American Cancer Society, about 25,580 new cases of ovarian cancer will be diagnosed in the United States during 2004. Ovarian cancer accounts for 4% of all cancers in women and is the fifth most common cancer in women (not counting non-melanoma skin cancers).

• Family history Age
• Age
• Reproductive history
• Personal history
• Hormone replacement therapy (HRT
• Talc

Diagnosis: If a woman has symptoms suspicious of ovarian cancer, her doctor will review her medical history, perform a physical exam, and order tests to help make a diagnosis.

Some of the following tests and procedures may be used:

• Pelvic exam
• Ultrasound:
• CA 125 assay:
• Barium enema (lower GI series)
• Computed tomography (CT or CAT scan)

If any of these tests suggest ovarian cancer, a biopsy may be performed to confirm a diagnosis. A biopsy is the removal of cells or tissues for examination under a microscope. Although biopsies typically involve the removal of a small amount of tissue, the entire ovary is commonly removed in a case of suspected ovarian cancer so that cancer cells, if present, are not released into the abdominal cavity.

Treatments: The three medical treatments for cancer are surgery, radiation therapy, and chemotherapy

Prevention: Doctors cannot always explain why one person gets cancer and another does not. However, scientists have studied general patterns of cancer in the population to learn what things around us and what things we do in our lives may increase our chance of developing cancer.

Anything that increases a person’s chance of developing a disease is called a risk factor; anything that decreases a person’s chance of developing a disease is called a protective factor. Some of the risk factors for cancer can be avoided, but many cannot. For example, although you can choose to quit smoking, you cannot choose which genes you have inherited from your parents. Both smoking and inheriting specific genes could be considered risk factors for certain kinds of cancer, but only smoking can be avoided. Prevention means avoiding the risk factors and increasing the protective factors that can be controlled so that the chance of developing cancer decreases.

Although many risk factors can be avoided, it is important to keep in mind that avoiding risk factors does not guarantee that you will not get cancer. Also, most people with a particular risk factor for cancer do not actually get the disease. Some people are more sensitive than others are to factors that can cause cancer. Talk to your doctor about methods of preventing cancer that might be effective for you.

Skin cancer is a disease in which malignant cancer cells are found in the outer layers of the skin. Skin cancer is the most common type of cancer in the U.S., affecting more than 1 million people each year.

Symptoms: The warning signs of basal and squamous cell carcinoma are:

• A skin growth increases in size and appears pearly, translucent, tan, brown, black or multicolored.
• A mole, birthmark, beauty mark or any brown spot that:
• Changes color
• Increases in size or thickness
• Changes in texture
• Is irregular in outline
• Is bigger than 6mm (size of a pencil eraser)
• Appears after age 21
• Is a spot or sore which continues to itch, hurt, crust, scab, erode or bleed
• Is an open sore that does not heal within three weeks.