WebProNews

Tag: Ovarian cancer

  • Brittany Burns: Buffalo Bills Linebacker Tony Steward’s Fiancee Dies of Ovarian Cancer

    Brittany Burns was diagnosed with terminal ovarian cancer less than a month ago. Three days later–on December 9–Buffalo Bills linebacker Tony Steward proposed to his longtime girlfriend. On Tuesday, Brittany Burns passed away. She was just 26 years old.

    Shortly after learning she was sick, Burns and Steward set out to help other young women suffering from similar illnesses. The two launched “Britt and Tony’s Fight Like a Girl Campaign,” accepting donations for the cause on CrowdRise. They also created the hashtag #fightlikeagirl, using it in their social media posts.

    One of the last Instagram posts on Brittany Burns’ page shows a group of men at an Atlanta sports training facility, as they are wishing her well and yelling the slogan.

    “These guys rock! It’s the little words that come from God that mean so much! Can’t wait to be in their positive presence ? @z32smith @hammersmith27 @coachchipsmith,” she captioned it.

    A video posted by Brittany Burns (@bburns) on

    Brittany Burns remained grateful and gracious throughout her cancer fight, taking to social media on the day of her diagnosis.

    Her spirits were still high weeks later, when a second round of chemo was needed.

    Now that Brittany Burns is gone, Tony Steward needs the support of his loved ones and his friends to help him cope with this devastating loss.

    Brittany Burns will live on in the heart of Tony Steward and others who loved her. They will no doubt keep her memory alive by continuing the #fightlikeagirl campaign.

  • Khloe Kardashian Dismisses Kris Jenner’s Insistence of BRCA Gene Test

    Khloe Kardashian and “momager” Kris Jenner have an argument in a clip previewing Sunday’s upcoming episode of Keeping Up With the Kardashians. This one, however, isn’t over a trivial matter.

    Jenner is insisting Khloe Kardashian get the BRCA gene test, which checks for cell mutations and tells if patients are likely to get breast or ovarian cancer.

    “I feel like you should really get on our bandwagon and try and get this DNA test done,” Kris tells Khloe, who simply isn’t having it.

    “I don’t want to, is the point,” Khloe says. “I don’t really care.”

    “It’s unacceptable for you to have this technology at your fingertips, and not go out and utilize that,” Kris tells her. “It might save your life one day.”

    Perhaps Khloe Kardashian had too much of a taste of death while caring for estranged husband Lamar Odom. She remained by his side for nearly a month straight, even forgoing showering for an entire week when he was first hospitalized for his near-fatal overdose in that Nevada brothel.

    “I don’t care,” Khloe insists. “Fact: I’m going to die. You’re going to die. We’re all going to die.”

    “Do you want to die when you’re 30?” Kris Jenner asks her middle daughter. “Or do you want to die when you’re 85.”

    “I don’t care,” Khloe says one last time.

    What’s your take on the BRCA gene test? Would you get tested if you could afford to do so? Not all insurance companies will pay for the test, but of course money is no object in the Keeping Up With the Kardashians family.

    Why do you suppose Khloe Kardashian is so adamantly opposed to having the BRCA gene test? Might she be afraid of the results?

    Fans can tune in to Keeping Up With the Kardashians on Sunday night at 9 p.m. on the E! network, and see if Kris Jenner makes any headway in this discussion with Khloe Kardashian.

  • Kylie Minogue Understands Angelina Jolie’s Choice of Breast and Ovary Removal

    Kylie Minogue completely understands the medical decisions Angelina Jolie made regarding the removal of her breasts and her ovaries in her efforts to prevent getting cancer. The singer was a guest recently on The Jonathan Ross Show, and was asked if she identifies with the decisions that actress made–especially about her decision to go public with her cancer scare.

    “To a point, I mean cancer has many forms,” she said.

    “I guess, I can only say to a point I did because I don’t really know her story, she doesn’t really know my story,” Kylie Minogue added.

    “Cancer has probably touched everyone in this audience in some way or another and all the stories are different, but certainly in as much as she felt it was her duty to talk about it,” she continued. “I never questioned, not for a split second did I think of not saying what I had.”

    Kylie Minogue is coming up on her 10-year milestone of being cancer free in May. She was diagnosed in May of 2005 with breast cancer.

    “I’m good. I have yet to reach my ten-year mark, which I imagine I’ll be having a bit of champagne and crying a lot and feeling very happy and joyful and thanking all my friends and family,” she explained.

    “It’s quite difficult to talk about it in interview situations because it’s deep, and it’s long and it’s involved and it’s hard to really say what it was in a neat package. It’s pretty strange,” she admitted.

    Angelina Jolie just recently went public with her decision to have her ovaries removed. She has been very vocal about cancer awareness ever since she had her breasts removed after learning she is genetically predisposed to getting cancer.

    Do you suppose Kylie Minogue will share more about her cancer ordeal once she reaches her 10-year mark next month?

  • Angelina Jolie Underwent Preventative Surgery Last Week to Remove Ovaries and Fallopian Tubes

    Angelina Jolie has revealed that she underwent preventative surgery last week to remove her ovaries and fallopian tubes.

    Angelina Jolie, who underwent a preventative double mastectomy in 2013, wrote an op-ed piece for the New York Times, entitled Angelina Jolie Pitt: Diary of a Surgery, explaining her decision to have her ovaries and fallopian tubes after doctors allegedly detected a possible sign of early cancer.

    Angelina Jolie, who will now be unable to have more children, wrote that she was recently told by doctors that “a number of inflammatory markers” were elevated, which could indicate early cancer.

    Angelina Jolie’s fears are merited as she carries the BRCA1 gene, which brings an estimated 87 percent risk of breast cancer and a 50 percent risk of ovarian cancer. Her family has a history of cancer — her mom was diagnosed with breast cancer and died of ovarian cancer.

    Angelina Jolie said in her op-ed that a PET/CT scan came back clear, but she chose to remove her ovaries and tubes preventatively.

    “In my case, the Eastern and Western doctors I met agreed that surgery to remove my tubes and ovaries was the best option, because on top of the BRCA gene, three women in my family have died from cancer,” she wrote. “My doctors indicated I should have preventive surgery about a decade before the earliest onset of cancer in my female relatives. My mother’s ovarian cancer was diagnosed when she was 49. I’m 39.”

    “Regardless of the hormone replacements I’m taking, I am now in menopause,” she continued. “I will not be able to have any more children, and I expect some physical changes. But I feel at ease with whatever will come, not because I am strong but because this is a part of life. It is nothing to be feared.”

    Angelina Jolie, who was much affected by her mother’s death, wrote that her kids now “will never have to say, ‘Mom died of ovarian cancer.’”

  • Aspirin Could Cut Ovarian Cancer Risks

    Aspirin Could Cut Ovarian Cancer Risks

    The National Cancer Institute (NCI) today revealed the results of a new study showing that daily aspirin use could significantly reduce the risk of ovarian cancer in women. The study, published today in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute, showed that daily aspirin use could cut ovarian cancer risks by as much as one-fifth.

    The study looked at 12 other large studies that were part of the Ovarian Cancer Association Consortium. Around 8,000 women with ovarian cancer and 12,000 without were observed to see wether aspirin, acetaminophen, or other anti-inflammatory drugs might affect cancer risks. The study participants who used aspirin daily, according to researchers, saw a 20% lower risk for ovarian cancer than other participants who used aspirin less than once per week.

    This study is the largest yet to link aspirin to a lower ovarian cancer risk. In recent years new studies have shown that anti-inflammatory drugs such as aspirin could help mitigate cancer risks caused by persistent inflammation.

    “Our study suggests that aspirin regimens, proven to protect against heart attack, may reduce the risk of ovarian cancer as well,” said Britton Trabert, lead author of the study and a researcher in the Division of Cencer Epidemiology and Genetics at the NCI. “However intriguing our results are, they should not influence current clinical practice. Additional studies are needed to explore the delicate balance of risk-benefit for this potential chemopreventive agent, as well as studies to identify the mechanism by which aspirin may reduce ovarian cancer risk.”

    The U.S. National Institutes of Health (NIH) estimates that 20,000 American women will be diagnosed with ovarian cancer this year, and that at least 14,000 of them will die from it.

  • Diabetes Drug Could Treat Ovarian Cancer, Shows Study

    A new study has shown that a common diabetes medication may be useful in the prevention or treatment of ovarian cancer. The study, published in the journal CANCER, showed that patients with ovarian cancer who took the drug metformin tended to live longer than patients who did not.

    Metformin comes from the French Lilac plant and is used to treat type 2 diabetes. Previous studies had suggested that the drug could have anticancer properties. Researchers stated that there is a desperate need for new ovarian cancer treatments.

    The study looked at 61 patients with ovarian cancer who took metformin and 178 who did not. Of those patients who took metformin, 67% had not died from their cancer withing 5 years, while only 47% those who did not take the drug survived over the same period. When taking into account factors such as cancer severity and the patients’ body mass index, the researchers stated that patients on metformin were 3.7 times more likely to survive ovarian cancer during the trial.

    “This study opens the door for using metformin in large-scale randomized trials in ovarian cancer which can ultimately lead to metformin being one option for treatment of patients with the disease,” said Viji Shridhar, co-author of the study and a researcher at the Mayo Clinic.

    Trials are already underway in the treatment of breast cancer using metformin.

    “We think that ovarian cancer research needs to follow that example,” said Dr. Sanjeev Kumar another co-author of the study.

  • Ovarian Cancer Screening Not Recommended by USPSTF

    The U.S. Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF) today issued its final recommendation for women considering being screened for ovarian cancer. The task force does not recommend that women undergo ovarian cancer screening as a prevantive measure. The recommendation applies to women of average risk who show no symptoms of ovarian cancer and do not have genetic mutations that increase their risk of getting the disease.

    “There is no existing method of screening for ovarian cancer that is effective in reducing deaths,” said Dr. Virginia Moyer, task force chair. “In fact, a high percentage of women who undergo screening experience false-positive test results and consequently may be subjected to unnecessary harms, such as major surgery.”

    The USPSTF pointed out that today’s recommendation is in-line with recommendations by the American Cancer Society and the American Congress of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, neither of which recommend screening for ovarian cancer. The task force’s full recommendation is available on its website or in the online version of the Annals of Internal Medicine.

    “Currently, routine screening for ovarian cancer has no proven benefit and may actually lead to important harms,” said Moyer. “In light of this, there is a critical need to develop better screening tests for ovarian cancer.”

    The USPSTF is an independent panel of physicians and experts in preventive medecine that uses evidence-based medicine to recommend preventive care and procedures to primary care physicians. It’s recommendations are highly regarded by the medical community. The task force last month recommended that HIV tests become more routine for preventive care.