Recurrent ovarian cancer patients usually do not have many effective treatment options and long term survival is low. Research continues to evaluate ways to improve outcomes for patients with this disease.

An article published in Gynecologic Oncology said that Thalomid (thalidomide) appears to be safe and may provide an effective treatment option for patients with recurrent ovarian cancer. Thalomid is a pill that helps block angiogenesis. Anti-angiogenesis medication inhibits blood vessel formation so that cancer growth is limited by the lack of blood supply to the tumor. The drug is also thought to cause activity that stimulates the immune system to help fight cancer cells.

Researchers from Stanford University recently conducted a clinical trial evaluating Thalomid in the treatment of recurrent ovarian cancer. The trial included 17 patients who had received prior therapy. Three patients achieved an anticancer response, 18 percent and six patients achieved stabilization of their cancer, 35 percent. After one year of treatment, nearly 67 percent of patients who either achieved an anticancer response or disease stabilization had not experienced a progression of their disease.

Cervical cancer is the second leading cause of cancer deaths among women worldwide. The World Health Organization has estimated that each year over 500,000 women will be diagnosed with cervical cancer and over 300,000 women will die of the disease. Cervical cancer is caused by a chronic infection with high-risk subtypes of the human papillomavirus (HPV). Two of these high-risk subtypes cause more than sixty percent of cervical cancers globally.

The impact of the widespread adoption of the HPV vaccination in Mexico showed that it could potentially drop the cases of cervical cancer by 59 percent. They showed that the biggest impact would be to girls given the vaccination at the age of ten.

Dr. Adriana Bermudez, who is a professor of gynecologic oncology and vice president elect of the International Gynecologic Cancer Society, says "This study shows the potential impact of the new prophylactic HPV vaccines in the Americas. We will need a major public-private partnership to make these vaccines available to the girls and women of the Americas, as well as a major educational campaign to alert parents to the importance of protecting their daughters from cervical cancer."

The International Gynecologic Cancer Society is a non-profit professional society with 1200 members from 80 countries dedicated to reducing the global burden of women's cancers through education and research.

Turn Up the Volume! is the national Canadian public education campaign of The National Ovarian Cancer Association to raise awareness about ovarian cancer -- the most fatal gynecologic cancer. The campaign is designed to bring attention to the fact that 1 in 70 Canadian women are diagnosed with ovarian cancer each year, and 1,500 women lose their life to this disease each year.
 
Because ovarian cancer isn't polite, The National Ovarian Cancer Association wants women to forget their manners and get loud during the Turn Up the Volume! campaign by speaking up, making noise and talking out loud about the symptoms of ovarian cancer -- abdominal pain, unusual bloating, urgent urination and nausea -- to our mothers, sisters and doctors. In raising ovarian cancer awareness, the association hopes that women will be diagnosed earlier so that the cancer can be treated with more successful outcomes. Whether you live in Canada, or another country, women need to start talking about ovarian cancer and insisting the media help spread the word. The lives of women are at stake against this silent killer.