Many types of tumors can start growing in the ovaries. Some are benign. This means that they’re not cancer. Benign tumors don’t spread but they can grow quite large and cause symptoms. They can usually be treated by removing 1 ovary or part of the ovary. Ovarian cancer is a malignant (cancerous) tumor. If a cancerous tumor isn’t treated, it can grow and spread to other parts of your body.
The ovary is made up of many layers of cells. Cancer can affect any 1 or all of these layers. These are the main types of ovarian cancer.
Epithelial ovarian cancer
This is by far the most common type of ovarian cancer. It starts in cells on the surface of the ovary. Many epithelial ovarian cancers start in the fallopian tubes or peritoneal (the lining of the inside of the belly) epithelial cells. Then they go to the surface of the ovary.
Germ cell ovarian cancer
This cancer starts in the cells that form eggs in the ovary. These rare tumors are most common in women in their teens and early twenties. There are different sub-types of germ cell tumors.
Stromal cell cancer
This cancer forms in the tissue that makes certain female hormones and holds the ovaries in place. This is also a very rare form of ovarian cancer.
Understanding the ovaries
To understand where the tumor is, it may help to know more about your ovaries. A woman's reproductive system has two ovaries. These are the other structures in that system:
Vulva. This is the external female genitalia. These are the parts outside your body.
Vagina. This is the passage that connects the uterus to the outside of your body. It's also called the birth canal.
Cervix. This is the lower part of your uterus that connects it to the vagina.
Uterus. This is the hollow, pear-shaped organ that holds a growing baby. It's also called the womb.
Two fallopian tubes. These are the tubes through which an egg travels from the ovaries to the uterus.
Your ovaries are responsible for hormone and egg production. They are located on either side of the uterus, in your pelvis. Each month, one of the ovaries releases an egg. After the egg leaves the ovary, it goes down the fallopian tube. If the egg connects with a sperm, it’s fertilized and burrows into the wall of the uterus. There it grows to become a baby. If the egg isn’t fertilized, it leaves the body through the vagina along with the menstrual flow. The ovaries also make the hormones that control the development of certain parts of your body. These include the breasts, body shape, and body hair. These hormones also control your menstrual cycle.
When a woman reaches menopause, her ovaries stop releasing eggs. They also stop making certain hormones.Dr Christiane Northrup has some interesting insights into the emotional and energetic issues associated with ovarian cancer. Whilst it is impossible to generalize emotional and energetic responses, she highlights the issue of rage in ovarian cancers. She describes the ovaries as being ‘female balls’ which means they relate to an active participation in the world in a way that expresses our unique creative potential, as women, on an individual basis.
She says: “…we as women must be open to the uniqueness of our creations and their own energies and impulses, without trying to force them into predetermined forms. Our ability to yield to our creativity, to acknowledge that we cannot control it with our intellects, is the key to understanding ovarian power.” (p187, Women’s Bodies, Women’s Wisdom)
She relates the issue of rage as deriving from being in an abusive relationship – not necessarily physically abusive, though of course this could be the case. And it may not necessarily be a personal or intimate relationship. It could be with work, societal, or even spiritual. But it embodies a way of relating and dealing with something or someone, where the woman involved feels controlled by the situation and does not believe in her ability to change it, or herself. It is a denial of her innate power and self-sovereignty. A denial of a woman’s innate dignity, creativity, spirituality, and complexity.
Interestingly, Dr Northrup notes that ovarian cancer is linked to a diet high in fat and dairy food. Dairy products in Oriental medicine, are associated with the liver meridian. Meridians are energy conduits, and though they have a specific anatomy, they are not equated necessarily with the organs of the same name, as understood in conventional western medicine. The emotion associated with a liver meridian that is out of balance, is rage and anger.
Oriental medicine believes that diseases start in our energetic body first, and then progress to the physical body. And certainly not all women who have a high fat and high dairy diet develop ovarian cancer. Dr Northrup suggests that women take care of their ovaries and uterus by reclaiming and expressing whatever this deep creative energy is for them. She suggests taking the time to do this daily.
A recent scientific study has also found that drinking two cups or more of tea a day can reduce the risk of ovarian cancer by 46%. This study was done in Sweden over a 15 year period. Sweden is a country where there is a higher risk of ovarian cancer, as are other countries with a high dairy consumption (Denmark and Switzerland).Two Percent of All Female Newborns in the United States Are at Risk of Getting Ovarian Cancer
As many as 30,000 U.S. women will be diagnosed with ovarian cancer this year. In 2006, between 15,000 and 16,000 women are likely to die from this silent killer. Ovarian cancer is the 5th leading cause of death among women, and it is responsible for about five percent of all cancer deaths. Chances are your doctor may have misdiagnosed you. That is often the case. A recent British study found 60 percent of all U.K. general practitioners had misdiagnosed their patients. Three-quarters of British doctors surveyed incorrectly assumed that symptoms only occurred in the late stages of ovarian cancer. Based upon that information, it should be no surprise that Britain has one of the lowest survival rates for ovarian cancer in the Western World – of 6,800 cases diagnosed each year, more than 4,600 die.
A similar discovery was made by University of California researchers, who announced last year, “Four in 10 women with ovarian cancer have symptoms that they tell their doctors about at least four months.
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