Cancer

Ovarian Cancer

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). Women who have a family history of ovarian cancer are at an increased risk of developing ovarian cancer. Hereditary ovarian cancer makes up approximately 5 to 10 percent of all cases of ovarian cancer. Three hereditary patterns have been identified: ovarian cancer alone, ovarian and breast cancers and ovarian and colon cancers. Ovarian cancer is hard to detect early because there usually are no symptoms and those symptoms that do occur tend to be vague. The National Cancer Institute estimated 21,650 new cases in 2008

Pancreatic Cancer

Pancreatic cancer has been called a "silent" disease because early pancreatic cancer usually does not cause symptoms. If the tumor blocks the common bile duct and bile cannot pass into the digestive system, the skin and whites of the eyes may become yellow (jaundiced) and the urine darker as a result of accumulated bile pigment called bilirubin. Cancer of the pancreas has markedly increased in incidence over the decades and now ranks as the fourth leading cause of cancer death in the U.S. According to the National Cancer Institute, there were about 37,680 new cases in 2008