Could it be ovarian cancer?

One of the most disappointing things patients and doctors face is the knowledge that if they had acted sooner something could have been done to cure a fatal cancer. For women, this is even more important, because ovarian cancer is notorious for being silent in the early phase when it can be cured, only showing symptoms at an advanced stage when the chance of survival is small.

Is Ovarian Cancer Common?

While extremely frightening, ovarian cancer is a rare disease. Only one out of every 15,000 women at the age of 30 will be found to have the disease. At the age of 60, the average age at which women get ovarian cancer, only one of every 1,500 women will be found to have it.

How is cancer detected?

Doing a pelvic examination, an ultrasound or a special blood test can screen for ovarian cancer. None of these tests is consistently reliable and accurate in detecting the presence of ovarian cancer. It should be noted that the Pap test does not detect ovarian cancer. At first it was thought that the combination of ultrasound and the CA-125 blood test would lead to early detection of ovarian cancer with more likelihood of a cure.

This has not happened in reality, and one recent report suggested that the use of annual transvaginal ultrasound and serum CA-125 estimation may not be an adequate means of detecting pre-symptomatic ovarian cancer in women. This is because less than one in five women who have a positive CA-125 will actually have ovarian cancer, and only about 50 per cent of women who have ovarian cancer will actually have an elevated CA-125.

What else can you do?

Frustrated at the lack of a good screening test for ovarian cancer, advocacy groups have persuaded professional cancer organisations abroad to endorse a list of persistent symptoms that might indicate the presence of the disease. The list could have a very beneficial effect in alerting patients - and doctors who have been dismissive of complaints of generalised discomfort - that ovarian cancer is present at an early stage when it is most treatable. Among the many patients who have the all-too-common symptoms, there will be some who undergo needless surgeries to remove ovaries that turn out not to be cancerous.

Ovarian cancer can be successfully treated when it remains in the ovary; the five-year survival rate for localised treatment is 93 per cent. But the vast majority is not detected until the cancer has spread to distant sites, at which point the five-year survival rate drops to 30 per cent. Symptoms typically occur in advanced stages when tumor growth creates pressure on the bladder and rectum, and fluid begins to form. Some of the signs and symptoms of ovarian cancer are:

· Unexplained change in bowel habits, such as constipation and other vague symptoms, such as a change in appetite and bloating.

· Urinary incontinence or frequency.

· Unexplained weight loss or weight gain.

· Pelvic and/or abdominal pain or discomfort.

· A constant feeling of fullness.

· Fatigue.

· Abnormal or postmenopausal bleeding.

· Pain during intercourse.

Email this to a friend | Print this Page | Join the discussion about this article