>> >>AMITA SHARMA: OVARIAN CANCER IS OFTEN A QUIET DISEASE.
FEW SYMPTOMS MAKE IT ONE OF THE HARDEST FORMS OF CANCER TO DETECT.
AS A RESULT, TUMORS ARE DISCOVERED LATE, MAKING A DIAGNOSIS PRACTICALLY A DEATH SENTENCE.
DOCTORS AT SCRIPPS CLINIC ARE WORKING ON IDENTIFYING RELAPSE AT AN EARLIER POINT WHICH COULD CONTRIBUTE
TO EARLY DETECTION.
HERE TO DISCUSS THE RESEARCH ARE DR.
KELLY BETHEL OF SCRIPPS CLINIC AND CANCER SURVIVER JOAN WYLLIE.
DR.
BETHEL, TELL US HOW YOU'RE USING BLOOD SAMPLES TO UNDERSTAND THE SPREAD OF THIS CANCER.
>> >>KELLY BETHEL: WE ARE USING FLUID BIOPSY WHICH GIVES US THE OPPORTUNITY TO FIND CANCER
CELLS CIRCULATING IN THE CIRCULATING IN THE BLOOD STREAM.
WE CAN PULL THEM OUT THE BLOOD CELLS THAT MAKE UP MOST OF OUR BLOOD AND ANALYZE THOSE
CELLS.
WE WITH R DOING A BUNCH OF DIFFERENT 57B8 ANALYSIS ON THOSE.
WE'RE STARTING NOW WITH WOMEN WHO HAVE ALREADY BEEN DIAGNOSED WITH OVARIAN CANCER.
TO SEE IF THEY ARE IN EARLY STAGES OF RELAPSE.
>> >>AMITA SHARMA: SO WHAT'S THE STATUS OF THE ENTIRE RESEARCH PROJECT?
>> >>KELLY BETHEL: THERE ARE ACTUALLY MULTIPLE PARTS TO THE RESEARCH PROJECT.
THIS PART WE'RE TALKING ABOUT TODAY THAT'S FUNDED BY JOAN'S GROUP HAS TO DO WITH WOMEN
WHO ARE ALREADY DIAGNOSED WITH OVARIAN KANS EXPR WHO ARE ACTIVELY TREATING THEIR DISEASE
OR WAITING TO FIND OUT IF THEY'RE GOING TO BE REOCCURRING OR NOT.
WE HAVE ENROLLED ABOUT HALF OF THE WOMEN WE WERE LOOKING FOR, SO WE'RE LOOKING FOR 19
WOMEN NOW.
>> >>AMITA SHARMA: JOAN, YOU WERE PART OF THIS RESEARCH IN 2008.
YOU WERE DIAGNOSED WITH STAGE FOUR OVARIAN CANCER.
WHAT DID IT TAKE FOR YOU IT ACTUALLY GET THAT DIAGNOSIS.
>> >>JOAN WYLLIE: I WAS MISDIAGNOSED BY NINE PHYSICIANS FOR SIX MONTHS,.
>> >>AMITA SHARMA: WHAT WAS YOUR REACTION, WHAT WAS THE REACTION OF THE PHYSICIANS?
>> >>JOAN WYLLIE: DURING MY DIAGNOSIS DURING THE MIS DIAGNOSIS, I WENT FROM THEY USUALLY
SEND YOU GASTROINTESTINAL DOCTORS, UROLOGIST, GYNECOLOGISTS.
THEY KEPT SAYING IT WAS IRRITABLE BOWEL OR URINARY TRACT.
FINALLY AFTER THE NINTH FISSION, IT WAS A PSYCHOLOGIST WHO TOLD ME IT WAS IN MY HEAD,
I SAID NO, I'M GOING TO SEEK EXPLORATORY OR LAPERSCOPIC SURGERY, AND I DID.
>> >>: THEY DID IT, WHAT'S YOUR PROGNOSIS AT THIS POINT?
>> >>JOAN WYLLIE: FIVE YEARS AGO THEY TOLD ME I HAD A 5% CHANCE OF SURVIVING EVEN A YEAR
BECAUSE I WAS SO BAD WITH MY DIAGNOSIS.
HERE I AM FIVE YEARS LATER, I'VE BEEN CANCER FREE WITH NO RECURRENCES, KNOCK ON WOOD AND
I'M VERY HEALTHY.
>> >>AMITA SHARMA: YOU START AD GROUP CALLED NINE GIRLS ASK.
WHAT'S THE GROUP ABOUT?
>> >>JOAN WYLLIE: I STARTED IT DURING MY CHEMO, I REACHED OUT ONCE I WAS DIAGNOSED AND HAD
NO ONE TO TURN TO.
I THOUGHT IT WOULD BE VALUABLE FOR ME TO FIND SOMEONE WHO WALKED IN MY STEPS BEFORE ME.
IT IS A VERY SCARY DISEASE.
I DECIDED TO START NINE GIRLS ASK FOR ONE REASON I HAVE FIVE GRAND DAUGHTERS, THREE
DAUGHTERS AND MYSELF, WE'RE AGE 8 TO 68 AND IT DOES AFFECT WOMEN OF ALL AGES USUALLY WOMEN
WHO ARE MORE MATURE.
I DECIDED I WANT TO BE THERE TO LEND A SHOULDER TO LET SOMEONE KNOW WHAT TO EXPECT.
>> >>AMITA SHARMA: DR.
BETHEL, WHAT SHOULD WOMEN EXPECT WHEN THEY'RE EXPERIENCING THIS?
>> >>KELLY BETHEL: I THINK THAT ALTHOUGH JOAN'S EXPERIENCE WITH THE LACK OF EARLY DIAGNOSIS
WAS EXTREME, I DO THINK IT'S A DISEASE THAT PRESENTS VERY VAGUELY.
UNLESS MANY CANCERS THAT PRODUCE A LUMP YOU CAN FEEL, OR A COUGH.
OVARIAN CANCER IS VERY SUBTLE.
IT PRODUCES SUBTLE ABDOMINAL DISCOMFORT.
CERTAINLY WOMEN SHOULD PURSUE GOING TO THEIR DOCTOR WHEN HAVING THESE VAGUE SYMPTOMS.
>> >>AMITA SHARMA: JOAN, WHAT WERE SOME OF YOUR SYMPTOMS?
>> >>JOAN WYLLIE: I'D LIKE TO READ THEM.
IF A WOMAN IS EXPERIENCING ONE OR TWO THREE OF THESE FOR MORE THAN TWO WEEKS SHE NEEDS
TO SEEK HELP WITH HER GYNECOLOGIST.
ABDOMINAL PRESSURE, SEVERE BLOATING AND DISCOMFORT, CONSTIPATION, DIARRHEA, URINATION, ABNORMAL
BLEEDING, UNEXPLAINED WEIGHT LOSS OR GAIN, SHORTNESS OF BREATH, ANY OF THOSE SYMPTOMS,
IF YOU COMBINE TWO OR THREE OF THEM, YOU SHOULD SEE A PHYSICIAN.
>> >>AMITA SHARMA: WE'RE GOING TO WRAP IT THERE.
JOAN WYLLIE, DR.
BETHEL, THANK YOU FOR COMING ON THE PROGRAM.