A few weeks ago I covered some stuff on Bone marrow diseases. Today’s article is about Ovarian cancer.

Unlike breast cancer which affects a slight percentage of men, Ovarian cancer affects only women- or so you think.

I believe that there is no disease in the world that does not affect you. Sure, you could be perfectly healthy, but that doesn’t mean that you can’t be suddenly diagnosed with a life-threatening disease, or more likely, for that to happen to your friends or loved ones. I’m not trying to say anything here, but after my recent incident I’ve come to realized that anything can happen… to anyone at any time.

Cliché I know, yet I believe that any information we know about these diseases would help us make more informed decisions in our lives, and more particularly how we can help. You’ll never know when it could strike after all…

However, the information and companies in this article would be more relevant towards people living in the Israel.

Definition of Ovarian cancer: Cancer that forms in tissues of the ovary (one of a pair of female reproductive glands in which the ova, or eggs, are formed). Most ovarian cancers are either ovarian epithelial carcinomas (cancer that begins in the cells on the surface of the ovary) or malignant germ cell tumors (cancer that begins in egg cells).

Ovarian Cancer according to the NLM (The National Library of Medicine) usually happens in women over age 50, but it can also affect younger women. Its cause is unknown. Ovarian cancer is hard to detect early.

The sooner ovarian cancer is found and treated, the better your chance for recovery. But ovarian cancer is hard to detect early. Many times, women with ovarian cancer have no symptoms or just mild symptoms until the disease is in an advanced stage and hard to treat. Symptoms may include:
• Heavy feeling in pelvis
• Pain in lower abdomen
• Bleeding from the vagina
• Weight gain or loss
• Abnormal periods
• Unexplained back pain that gets worse
• Gas, nausea, vomiting, or loss of appetite

Treatment is usually surgery followed by treatment with medicines called chemotherapy.

The purpose of this article however, is not so much of awareness as the introduction of Biocancell or how it helps in the fight against Ovarian Cancer by the use of the H19 gene (more details can be found here).

Perhaps it would be better for me to say that their bladder and Ovarian cancer clinical trials are recruiting for Biocancell’s first treatment, the BC-819. So if you happen to be living in Israel and are interested to take part in the trial, head over here for a list of inclusion and exclusion criteria to see if you are able to take part. The current trial locations are in Jerusalem, Holon and Kfar Saba (all in Israel).

So those of us who do not reside in Israel though, know that help is on the way and that we can support various researches in our own countries as well. The Singapore cancer society for example, could use your help as well.