I went to a public seminar last night at the Queen’s Medical Research Institute given by  Dr Scott Fegan, one of the surgeons who took me apart just over a year ago, and Prof. Steve Hillier, an eminent research scientist.  They were presenting some of their current knowledge and research into aspects of ovarian cancer.  Very interesting, very disturbing.

Did you know that ovarian cancer is the fourth most common cancer amongst women in the UK but that, amongst the gynaecological cancers it is first in terms of deaths?   Only 40% of women diagnosed with ovarian cancer survive for 5 years after diagnosis and Scotland has the worst survival rate in Europe for the disease.  Survival rates for breast cancer have improved significantly over the last 20 years but those for ovarian cancer have remained virtually unchanged in that period.  Fun, huh?

The reasons for such poor survival are buried in a mixture of reasons.  Continue reading →