Setting the Scene

Chapter 1: Setting the Scene

Overview:

• Includes worldwide incidence and mortality rates for the most common cancers in women
• Informs about the various type of gynaecological cancer including: Ovarian, Cervical, Uterine, Vulval and Vaginal, as well as Gestational trophoblastic disease.

Description:

The term ‘gynaecological cancer’ refers to a disparate group of malignancies of a woman’s reproductive system. These malignancies differ in their risk factors, clinical features, management, and prognosis. This chapter ‘sets the scene’ by discussing gynaecological cancer in general. Learn about the incidence and mortality rates of gynaecological cancer as well as its various types including: Ovarian, Cervical, Uterine, Vulval and Vaginal, as well as Gestational trophoblastic disease.

Topics:

• Incidence and mortality
• Ovarian cancer
  • Epithelial and uncommon ovarian cancers
• Cervical cancer
• Uterine cancer
  • Endometrial cancer and uterine sarcomas
  • General and rare vulval cancers
• Vaginal cancer
  • General and rare vaginal cancers
• Gestational trophoblastic disease

Speaker / Author:

Tish Lancaster
Tish is a registered nurse who holds an oncology certificate and bachelor’s degree in health science (nursing). She is a fellow of the College of Nursing (NSW) and a fellow of the Royal College of Nursing, Australia. Tish is the deputy chairperson of the Cancer Nurses Society of Australia and the chairperson of the society’s Research Advisory Committee. She has worked as a cancer nurse in Sydney for more than 20 years - as a clinical nurse specialist on the Oncology Unit Chemotherapy Team at Royal Prince Alfred Hospital, as the nursing unit manager of the Oncology Ward and Day Chemotherapy Unit at Prince of Wales Hospital, and in her current position as the clinical nurse consultant for gynaecological oncology at Westmead Hospital.

Tish is a member of the editorial board of Cancer Forum, the journal of the Clinical Oncological Society of Australia, a member of the New South Wales Cancer Institute’s Patient Support Working Party, and a member of the Cancer Council’s New South Wales Cancer Trials Centre Selection Committee. Tish was the chair of a working party of the International Society of Nurses in Cancer Care which was established to develop a position statement on cervical cancer screening (published in 2001). She is also a member of a working party of the Australian Cancer Network to develop the recently released Guidelines for the Management of Epithelial Ovarian Cancer, endorsed by the National Health and Medical Research Council.

Professional Reviews: