How Ovarian Cancer Swipes the Entire Woman Population - Essay Example

In this study, handling the need of being knowledgeable with regards to the issues that involve the development of ovarian cancer among women is introduced through a processes examination and analysis of a specific number of the population who are to be observed with regards to how they are responding to the procedures of the diet control approaches to be used in this research study.

This study shall first and foremost introduce how ovarian cancer swipes the entire woman population around the world today. To support the said details, research on the actual statistics comprising of the said details shall be presented along with the other mediums of explanation needed to make the issue clearly defined for the readers.

Through the in-depth development of this research, it shall further be enumerated how much importance should be placed upon the understanding of women with regards to their diet and how the said process actually affects the level of chances that they have in either preventing or incurring ovarian cancer in the future. It is through this that the researchers aim to open the minds of the readers towards the personal responsibility that they have towards their own safety from being afflicted by ovarian cancer.

A STUDY ON HOW A HIGH-FAT DIET RELATES TO THE RISK OF INCURRING OVARIAN CANCER

(A Research Proposal)

Introduction

Although ovarian cancer (OC) occurs less frequently than breast or uterine cancer, it has the highest mortality rate of gynecological cancers, comprising almost half of the deaths from these cancers (Bray, Sankila, Ferlay, & Parkin, 2002). In spite of improvements in screening and therapy, the five-year survival rate is less than 30 percent (Berrino, 1999). In 2000, approximately 61,000 women were diagnosed with ovarian cancer and more than 39,000 died from the disease (Ferlay, Bray, Parkin, & Pisani, 2001) (See Appendix for a breakdown of National Cancer Institute statistics in the US). Due to the poor prognosis for ovarian cancer, it is imperative to discover effective methods of prevention as well as early diagnosis and treatment. It is also of the greatest importance to identify factors of influence, then develop an intervention in the form of information dissemination.

Background

Overall Epidemiology

Most cases of ovarian cancer (OC) occur sporadically (Schulz et al., 2004). However, approximately 10-20 percent of cases are believed to be hereditary. Females who inherit genetic mutations in the BRCA1 (Breast cancer stage 1) and BRCA2 (Breast cancer stage 2) genes have an increased risk of both ovarian cancer and breast cancer. Most of the women with these genes have one or more relatives with OC and/or breast cancer (Wooster & Weber, 2003). About 90 percent of all OC develops from epithelial cells that comprise the external surface of the ovaries (Bell, 1991). The current study uses the term ovarian cancer to refer to epithelial ovarian cancer unless otherwise noted.

Most OC cases (85–90 percent) occur in postmenopausal females (Schulz et al, 2004). The etiology of the disease remains unclear. Nevertheless, the following two hypotheses have been proposed regarding disease causation: (a) The continuous ovulation hypothesis, and (b) the gonadotropin hypothesis (Edmundson, & Monaghan, 2001).