About Hereditary Breast & Ovarian Cancer Syndrome (HBOC)

Myths and facts about endometriosis

Myth: Endometriosis can be easily diagnosed. Fact: Endometriosis is not an easy diagnosis. In fact, endometriosis can be confused with other gynecological conditions. Gold standard for diagnosis of endometriosis is surgery. Myth: Endometriosis always manifests itself with bothersome symptoms. Fact: Not all women with endometriosis will have severe symptoms. Myth: Endometriosis prevents women from conceiving. Fact: Around thirty percent of women suffering from endometriosis struggle to get pregnant. Proper management of endometriosis generally increases the chances of conception. Myth: Endometriosis can be cured by pregnancy. Fact: Pregnancy may also control endometriosis symptoms to some extent but it is temporary. Myth: There is no treatment for endometriosis. Fact: Endometriosis is easily treatable. There are two main modes of treatment medical and surgical management. Myth: Hysterec...

Does Breast and Ovarian Cancer Run In Your Families?

Recently I sent a WhatsApp poster message to my friends saying that October is "Breast Cancer Awareness Month" and mentioned that if you have had ovarian cancer then you could be at risk of developing breast cancer or vice versa. One of my friend informed me that there is a request from his friend that they wanted to consult me. I spoke to this young 40 year old lady who was diagnosed with ovarian cancer two years back and had undergone two surgeries and chemotherapy. During her routine follow-up she was advised to have genetic testing done and her BRCA1 turned out to be positive. Now, she was anxious if she would develop breast cancer and how can she reduce her risk. Does breast and ovarian cancer run in your family? Yes, if you have close relatives with history of breast or ovarian cancer then you may be at higher risk for developing these two cancers. Draw your family health history tree and share this information with your doctor. This information could be yo...

How effective is HPV vaccination in preventing cancer?

Q & A with Dr. Rani Bhat How effective is HPV vaccination in preventing cancer? The human papillomavirus or HPV is the name given to a group of related viruses. There are more than a hundred types of HPVs and about forty of them are transmitted sexually. These viruses are generally divided into two groups known as low and high-risk types. The low-risk virus can cause genital warts and high-risk type causes various cancers of the reproductive organs, like cervical, vaginal, penile, vulvar, and anal and oropharyngeal cancers. Of the high-risk HPV, types 16 and 18 are responsible for about 70% cases of cervical cancers globally. What is HPV vaccination? Human papillomavirus (HPV) is a sexually transmitted virus that causes anogenital and oropharyngeal cancer in males and females. Vaccines have been developed to protect against acquiring HPV infection. There are three types of vaccination, which vary in the number of HPV types they contain and not all are avai...

Gynecologic Oncology

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