Ovarian Cancer Awareness Month – September 2024

History of Ovarian Cancer Awareness Month

Sir Spencer Wells, who died in 1872, is credited with believing that changed peritoneal mesothelioma causes most ovarian cancer. Before 1950, ovarian cancer was typically treated with surgery or radiotherapy. Researchers concentrated on palliative care for advanced ovarian cancer as chemotherapy was not discovered. They used a variant of nitrogen mustard.

In 1956, researchers at M.D. Anderson Hospital started treating patients with the alkylating agent melphalan, which helped shrink tumors in six of seven patients with advanced ovarian cancer. In 1966, researchers noted that melphalan could be curative. They claimed that 13 patients responded well to the treatment, with no tumors discovered in any of them, and chemotherapy was discontinued. Only two patients developed recurrence after follow-ups.

In the 1970s, patients for whom melphalan was unsuccessful had no other effective treatment. In 1976, a report from the U.K. noted that one out of four patients responded to cisplatin, but it did not cure the tumor. But this started a modern era of chemotherapy for ovarian cancer. Griffiths and Fuller published findings in 1978 that supported the use of debulking surgery. They found that patients who underwent debulking surgery and had residual disease less than 1.6 cm in diameter lived for 40 months. In contrast, no patient with a residual greater than 1.5 cm survived for 40 months.