Navigation Menu

Part I - Cancer Industry Overview:  
Part II - Initial Diagnosis of Cancer: 
  a. The diagnosis (making sure to get info on the specific type and staging of the cancer.....there are 30 types of ovarian cancer).
  b. The importance of a second opinion.
  c. Surgical vs. needle biopsy
  d. The importance of "sentinel node" procedure in determining lymph node involvement as part of cancer staging.
  e. A critical test if chemotherapy is a treatment option - chemosensitivity testing (must preserve live cancer tissue at time of surgery).
  f.  The importance of clear margins (preferably wide) if surgery option is used (get a copy of the pathology report).
  g.  The importance of using one of the Cancer Consulting services.
  h. Checking on limitations or advanced approvals required from health insurance provider.
  i. The importance of keeping a detailed medical log of dates of all doctors visits and exact procedures performed, including test results.
  j. The need for another relative or friend to attend all consultations (i.e. will give another set of ears on what is said and someone to discuss therapy options with).
 k. The importance of obtaining baseline readings on critical tests so that treatment options can be measured  to determine if their effective.  

Part III - Cancer Therapy Options:
Part IV - Nutrition for Cancer:
Part V - More Cancer Resources:
Part VI - Cancer Medical Terms:
Part VII - Survivor Characteristics:
Part VIII - Self-help Approaches:
Part IX - Testimonials of Survivors:
Part X - Forum for Patients:
Part XI - What I would do:
Part XII - Recent Developments:
Part XIII - Other Cancer Info:

Part II - Dealing with the Initial Diagnosis of Cancer
          c. Surgical vs. Needle Biopsy

It’s important to note that the degree of certainty regarding a diagnosis of cancer, as well as the type and stage, can be affected by whether the tissue being evaluated was based on a surgical excision or needle biopsy.
Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality

With that said, apparently there have been studies that indicating that surgical excision is overused vs. needle biopsy in the case of breast cancer as discussed at the link below:
New York Times

The bottom line is that when initially diagnosed with cancer, there should be confirmation that whichever procedure was used, it is sufficient to determine if the tissue is in fact malignant and if so, the type and stage of cancer.