Latest / 360 with Katie Woolf / Katie Woolf spoke with Royal Darwin Hospital Gynaecological Oncologist Dr Michelle Harris about Ovarian Cancer

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Katie Woolf spoke with Royal Darwin Hospital Gynaecological Oncologist Dr Michelle Harris about Ovarian Cancer · 360 with Katie Woolf

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  Speaker 1: Three sixty with Katie Wolf. Join the conversation with Katie Wolf.
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  Speaker 1: You are our eyes and ears in the territory mixed
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  Speaker 1: one oh four point nine.
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  Speaker 2: Well, as you may be aware, today is Till Ribbon
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  Speaker 2: Day and it is all about ovarian cancer awareness. Now
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  Speaker 2: joining me on the line from Royal Darwin Hospital the
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  Speaker 2: gynecological oncologist, doctor Michelle Harris. Good morning to you, Michelle.
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  Speaker 1: Oh hi Katie, how are you really well?
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  Speaker 2: Thank you so much for your time today. We know
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  Speaker 2: that very sadly, one woman dies every ten hours from
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  Speaker 2: ovarian cancer in Australia. That statistic is just heartbreaking. How
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  Speaker 2: important is it for us to you to be aware
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  Speaker 2: of the signs and symptoms when it comes to ovarian cancer.
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  Speaker 1: It's really tricky with ovarian cancer actually, because although we
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  Speaker 1: have very good screening tests for a number of cancer types,
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  Speaker 1: including breast cancer and savical cancer, we don't have a
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  Speaker 1: successful way of screening for ovarian cancer. And the symptoms
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  Speaker 1: that people get we can often pick them out retrospectively,
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  Speaker 1: but that kind of common things like gaining a bit
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  Speaker 1: of weight, it's feeling a bit bloated, feeling a bit nauseous,
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  Speaker 1: not being as hungry as usual. So it is quite
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  Speaker 1: a difficult one and it's one of the reasons why
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  Speaker 1: women often present quite late, and so more than seventy
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  Speaker 1: percent of ovarian councer presents for the first time in
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  Speaker 1: stage three or four.
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  Speaker 2: It's such a difficult thing to hear, and you know,
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  Speaker 2: we know that when you're then looking at stage three
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  Speaker 2: and four, the prognosis can be so much more difficult,
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  Speaker 2: can't it.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, it really is a challenge and it's quite
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  Speaker 1: shocking for the patients that have this diagnosis and their families.
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  Speaker 1: It's there are some positive signs. We've got some additional treatments,
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  Speaker 1: particularly for those women that have a hereditary type of
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  Speaker 1: ovarian cancer, and we can also see that over time
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  Speaker 1: survival in Australia has gotten better even for those late diagnoses.
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  Speaker 1: There's a particular group that compares cancer outcomes throughout the
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  Speaker 1: world and particularly putting Australia in with other high income countries,
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  Speaker 1: and we perform very well in that we're right at
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  Speaker 1: the top of ovarian cancer survival along with Norway. But nevertheless,
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  Speaker 1: it's still a five year survival rate of about forty
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  Speaker 1: six percent, which is shocking compared with some of the
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  Speaker 1: other cancers.
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  Speaker 2: It really is, doctor Harris, I know that you said
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  Speaker 2: that it is. It is a difficult one in terms
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  Speaker 2: of those signs and symptoms, But are these things that
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  Speaker 2: we can look out for.
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  Speaker 1: So I think if you're feeling like your clothes are
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  Speaker 1: a little bit tighter, a bit of increased abdominal girth,
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  Speaker 1: and you're eating less, so it's sort of out of
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  Speaker 1: proportion of what you would think, Or if there's a
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  Speaker 1: family history of breast or ovarian or bowel cancer, then
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  Speaker 1: those are the sort of things that it's reasonable to
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  Speaker 1: pop into your doctor and just has their missess whether
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  Speaker 1: there's a significant risk or not. Also, feeling full quickly
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  Speaker 1: is an unusual symptom, but one that we often notice
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  Speaker 1: when we ask people who have a diagnosis that they
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  Speaker 1: felt that was the case. So those are subtle things.
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  Speaker 1: But as I said, if we had everyone going along
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  Speaker 1: getting tested for ovarian cancer with those symptoms, it's often
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  Speaker 1: a very non specific finding. So yeah, it's difficult.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, And in the first instance, obviously you know, go
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  Speaker 2: and have a talk to you GP.
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  Speaker 1: Yes, yeah, that's always the first point of call. And
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  Speaker 1: we've got a great bunch of general practitioners in the
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  Speaker 1: Northern Territory and they will sort of assess your risk
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  Speaker 1: based on history of your symptoms, the examination findings, and
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  Speaker 1: also your family history, and then they can arrange any
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  Speaker 1: investigations as necessary.
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  Speaker 2: Is there anything else that we should sort of know
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  Speaker 2: or you know, or any way of really I guess
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  Speaker 2: making us just a bit more aware of ovarian cancer
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  Speaker 2: and you know, trying our best to keep an eye
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  Speaker 2: out for thanks.
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  Speaker 1: So I think the two things that maybe people don't realize.
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  Speaker 1: One is that we do have quite a powerful preventative strategy,
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  Speaker 1: and that's the common old oral contraceptive pill will decrease
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  Speaker 1: the risk of ovarian cancer by about fifty percent, so
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  Speaker 1: five zero percent wow menopausal women. So that's a sort
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  Speaker 1: of little known positive benefit of the contraceptive. The other
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  Speaker 1: thing that's important to know, and I think there have
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  Speaker 1: been some famous people that have a hereditary ovarian cancer
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  Speaker 1: or a risk of ovarian cancer, and that's contributed to
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  Speaker 1: people having a little bit more awareness. So Angelina Jollie,
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  Speaker 1: I know her mum had the breckagen, and so women
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  Speaker 1: that carry the breckagen they can actually have risk reducing
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  Speaker 1: surgery to prevent themselves developing ovarian cancer by more than
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  Speaker 1: ninety percent. So it's about that awareness. And if you've
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  Speaker 1: ever been diagnosed with ovarian cancer or someone in your
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  Speaker 1: family has has that gene, then get tested yourself and
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  Speaker 1: we can offer something that will prevent ovarian cancer.
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  Speaker 2: Well, Royal Down Hospital Gynecological Oncologist, doctor Michelle Harris, I
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  Speaker 2: really appreciate you having a chat with us today and
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  Speaker 2: really making us more aware of ovarian cancer.
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  Speaker 1: Oh, it's a pleasure, and I hope you're all wearing
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  Speaker 1: your tear ribbons today.
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  Speaker 2: Absolutely, thank you very much. We really appreciate your time.
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  Speaker 1: Okay, thank you.
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  Speaker 2: Doctor Michelle Harris there, and look, I know that this
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  Speaker 2: is something that you know that is dear to a
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  Speaker 2: lot of people's hearts. We lost our very wonderful friend
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  Speaker 2: here of the radio station, Charlene, who used to work
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  Speaker 2: here in sales to overian cancer. I know that it's
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  Speaker 2: something that she championed so hard to make sure that
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  Speaker 2: you know that we're more aware of this terrible illness
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  Speaker 2: and more aware of some of those signs and symptoms.
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  Speaker 2: And I know that they can be very difficult to detect.
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  Speaker 2: But as you've heard there from from Michelle, you know,
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  Speaker 2: if you have got that family history. If you have
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  Speaker 2: also got those persistent signs, make sure that you go
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  Speaker 2: and see your GP in the first instance, and just
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  Speaker 2: be aware even if you want to head to you know,
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  Speaker 2: to the Ovarian cancer it's a website and get a
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  Speaker 2: bit more information about some of the different signs, just
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  Speaker 2: to make sure that you're aware of your body and
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  Speaker 2: aware of what's going on.