due to sustained research funding<\/a>.<\/p>\nWhile prostate cancer and bowel cancer have five-year survival rates of 95 and 72 per cent respectively, ovarian cancer\u2019s five-year survival rate is 49 per cent \u2013 and for the 70 per cent of patients diagnosed with late-stage disease, the figure drops to 31 per cent. <\/p>\n
Patients still primarily receive chemotherapy, the same form of treatment used 30 years ago, and the disease remains without an early detection test.<\/p>\n
But researcher Dr Maree Bilandzic said Australia\u2019s success with the likes of cervical cancer was proof a five-year survival rate of 90 per cent can \u201cabsolutely\u201d be achieved for ovarian cancer, with researchers poised to make strides against the disease but hobbled by a lack of funding for clinical trials and testing. <\/p>\n
\u201cThe cervical cancer vaccine has all but eradicated cervical cancer in Australia, we hardly get any, but we just really need to understand first how (ovarian cancer) starts beforehand,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe definitely have the means to make this disease not something that\u2019s a death sentence. So we can make the treatments that we have for those patients more effective. <\/p>\n
\u201cAustralian ovarian cancer researchers are world-class, we have the capacity, we have the capability, we just don\u2019t have the resources or funding to be able to do it. If we did, we can definitely change the impact that this disease has on women. We can turn this disease into something that is manageable and something that women can survive.\u201d<\/p>\n
The average age of an ovarian cancer patient is 66, but the development of the disease in younger patients remains unexplained. <\/p>\n
Ms Penty said the answers would come from sustained investment.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn the past 10 years, we\u2019ve learned that a high proportion of ovarian cancers start in the fallopian tube, but these are the new discoveries that could be gamechangers for future research,\u201d she said. <\/p>\n
\u201cI like to describe it as a marathon, not a sprint, you know, we have to be in for the long haul. \u201c(Earlier onset disease) is an issue across all cancer types, but with so little data available, we need to know why younger people are experiencing disease at all. It used to be much later in life that anyone would need to worry about a cancer diagnosis.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe way I think of medical research is it\u2019s urgent today, because if we don\u2019t invest today, then in 20 years\u2019 time we\u2019ll be having the same conversation. We need to have the answers sooner.\u201d<\/p>\n
For more information on ovarian cancer, head to ocrf.com.au. <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Ovarian cancer is a \u2018silent killer\u2019, but it doesn\u2019t have to be- and Australia could lead the 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