Many women don't know enough about ovarian cancer.

2002 OCT 17 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Seventy percent of the women who will be diagnosed with ovarian cancer this year will not find out they have this disease until the cancer is in an advanced stage.

Only 25% of these women will be alive 5 years from now. However, when ovarian cancer is detected early, more than 90% of women survive 5 years or more.

Reversing these startling statistics is the goal of the Ovarian Cancer National Alliance (OCNA). CIGNA is joining OCNA to help raise awareness of the symptoms and risk factors of this deadly gynecologic cancer.

Those who visit http://www.ovariancancer.org/ will be able to support the fight against ovarian cancer simply by clicking on the teal ribbon.

"As a company that provides health-benefits coverage to millions of women and has a predominantly female workforce, this is an issue that hits home for CIGNA," said Dr. Allen Schaffer, chief medical officer, CIGNA HealthCare. "We are concerned that many women are missing the subtle signs of ovarian cancer, and hope that by making it more top of mind for women and physicians, more women will receive the proper medical attention sooner," said Schaffer.

Ovarian cancer occurs in 1 out of every 57 women. It is expected that 23,300 women will be diagnosed with this disease, and 13,900 will die from it, in 2002.

"There is no screening tool for ovarian cancer akin to the Pap test for cervical cancer or the mammogram for breast cancer, so our philosophy is 'until there's a test, awareness is best,'" said Ann Kolker, executive director, Ovarian Cancer National Alliance. "With so little national attention being given to ovarian cancer, we hope that more organizations and companies like CIGNA recognize and respond to the urgent need for public education so we can help save and prolong women's lives," she added.