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Facts About Gynecological Cancers
Data from the Gynecological Cancer Foundation.

Every seven minutes a woman is diagnosed with a form of gynecologic cancer. Gynecologic cancers are caused by the uncontrolled growth and spread of abnormal cells originating in the female reproductive organs, including the cervix, ovaries, uterus, fallopian tubes, vagina and vulva.

Risk factors include smoking, aging, environmental influences, family history, failure to receive regular pap tests, not bearing children, infertility, obesity, hypertension, diabetes and estrogen use.

The warning signs and symptoms of gynecological cancers include unusual vaginal bleeding or discharge; a sore that does not heal; pain or pressure in the pelvic area; a persistent change in bowel or bladder habits; frequent indigestion or abdominal bloating; and a thickening or lump that either causes pain or can be seen or felt.

Gynecologic cancers can be treated by surgery, radiation therapy, chemotherapy and experimental treatments.

Ovarian cancer ranks fifth as a cause of cancer deaths among women and causes more deaths than any other cancer of the female reproductive system.

Uterine cancer is the most common cancer of the female reproductive organs. It is estimated that more than 40,000 new cases will be diagnosed in 2009.

An estimate of more than 10,000 cases of invasive cervical cancer are expected to be diagnosed in 2009. During 1992-2002, cervical cancer death rates declined by approximately 4.0 percent in the United States.

Vulvar cancer is a very curable disease. Treatment includes surgically removing vulvar lesions and the groin lymph nodes.

Vaginal cancer is very rare. It is usually diagnosed in elderly women with abnormal bleeding and treated with radiation.

Fallopian tubes cancer is rare.

For more information on gynecological cancers, click on the specific cancer links above or visit the following sites:
http://www.cancer.gov/cancertopics/cancersbodylocation/page10
http://www.cdc.gov/cancer/gynecologic/
http://www.cancer.org

Understanding Prostate Cancer
Data from the National Cancer Institute

Prostate cancer is a common, but typically slow growing cancer when compared to other types of cancer. Its growth is fed by, and generally depends on, male hormones. Sometimes cells keep growing beyond their natural lifespan and can cause a group of cells to swell up into a tumor. There are two types of tumors:

• Benign—Non-cancerous tumors which are harmless
• Malignant—Cancerous tumors which are harmful to the cells around it

Cancer cells can remain in the prostate (local); in its immediate surroundings (regional) or cells can break free, getting into the blood or lymph system and cause cancer to spread to other parts of the body. This is referred to as metastatic.

In most cases, prostate cancer is an adenocarcinoma, a cancer of the epithelial cells which compose the inner lining of glands.

Prostate cancer facts:

• Prostate cancer is diagnosed every two minutes and fifteen seconds, and over 187,000 new cases are expected in 2009.
• It is the most commonly diagnosed cancer in America among men.
• An estimated 28,660 American men lost their lives to prostate cancer in 2008, up 3 percent from 2007. Prostate cancer takes about one life every 18 minutes.
• One in six American men is at lifetime risk of prostate cancer.
• If a close relative has prostate cancer, a man's risk of the disease more than doubles. With two relatives, his risk increases five times. With three close relatives, his risk is about 97 percent.
• Prostate cancer represents 33 percent of all new cancer cases in American men. That's more new cases than any other cancer.
• Almost 100 percent of men diagnosed with prostate cancer are still alive in five years*.

Over 90 percent of prostate cancer cases are found while the cancer is still either local or regional, and nearly 100 percent of these men are still alive five years after being diagnosed. In cases where the cancer has spread to distant parts of the body, 34 percent survive five years. After 10 years, about 97.9 percent of men diagnosed with early stage prostate cancer are still alive*, but only 17.6 percent of those diagnosed with advanced stage prostate cancer survive 10 years*.

*Survival rates not including those who died from other causes.

For more information on prostate cancer, visit the following sites:
http://www.prostate-cancer.org
http://www.cancer.org
http://www.cdc.gov/cancer/prostate/index.htm