Birth control pill use for five or more years can reduce the risk by half. The secluded position of the ovaries deep within the pelvis makes early detection particularly difficult. None of the screening tools available are accurate and reliable to detect the cancer when it is confined to the ovaries and still curable. Only 24 percent of ovarian cancers are diagnosed in early stages. However, when detected in Stage I, the disease has a 90 percent survival rate.
Treatment includes surgery, chemotherapy and radiation used singly or in combination.
Surgery can sometimes be done in a way to preserve fertility when the cancer is caught early, enhancing the benefit of early detection. Chemotherapy may involve using combinations of drugs to prevent resistance to any single drug. Treatment is similar for the very rare cancer of the fallopian tubes. These tumor markers, called lysophospholipids, are found in elevated levels in early-stage ovarian cancer. A cytological screening for ovarian cancer is also under development, and may be available as of 2005.