The effectiveness of treatment can be seen “in the numbers,” meaning statistics. Be wary of letting statistics cause distress or rule your life. Remember, individuals are not statistics. Statistics are numbers based on the experiences of large populations of people. Your experience with ovarian cancer will be unique and may vary greatly from the statistics.

Cancer survival statistics are based on 5-year survival rates. According to the most recent estimates, greater than half of the women diagnosed with ovarian cancer will live more that five years. Obviously, you have the best odds for long-term survival if you are diagnosed with early-stage disease. Unfortunately, as the stage increases, the chance of long-term survival is reduced. However, new treatments today, and the timing of when you receive those treatments, may make it possible to manage or even control ovarian cancer for an extended period of time.