Symptoms to help detect ovary cancer early

The symptoms to watch out for are bloating, pelvic or abdominal pain, difficulty in eating or feeling full quickly and feeling a frequent or urgent need to urinate. A woman who has any of those problems nearly every day for more than two or three weeks is advised to see a gynecologist, especially if the symptoms are new and quite different from her usual state of health.

Doctors say they hope that the recommendations will make patients and doctors aware of early symptoms, lead to earlier diagnosis and, perhaps, save lives, or at least prolong survival.

But it is too soon to tell whether the new measures will work or whether they will lead to a flood of diagnostic tests or even unnecessary operations.

Cancer experts say it is worth trying a more aggressive approach to finding ovarian cancer early. The disease is among the deadlier types of cancer, because most cases are diagnosed late, after the cancer has begun to spread.

This year, 22,430 new cases and 15,280 deaths are expected in the United States.

If the cancer is found and surgically removed early, before it spreads outside the ovary, 93 percent of patients are still alive five years later. Only 19 percent of cases are found that early, and 45 percent of all women with the disease survive at least five years after the diagnosis.

By contrast, among women with breast cancer, 89 percent survive five years or more.

The new recommendations, expected to be formally announced on June 25, are being made by the Gynecologic Cancer Foundation, the Society of Gynecologic Oncologists and the American Cancer Society.

More than 12 other groups have endorsed them, including CancerCare; Gilda’s Club, a support network for anyone touched by cancer; and several medical societies.

“The majority of the time this won’t be ovarian cancer, but it’s just something that should be considered,” said Dr Barbara Goff, the director of gynecologic oncology at the University of Washington in Seattle and an author of several studies that helped identify the relevant symptoms.

In a number of studies by Dr Goff and other researchers, these symptoms stood out in women with ovarian cancer as compared with other women.

“We don’t want to scare people, but we also want to arm people with the appropriate information,” said Dr Goff, who is also a spokeswoman for the Gynecologic Cancer Foundation.

She emphasized that relatively new and persistent problems were the most important ones. So, the transient bloating that often accompanies menstrual periods would not qualify, nor would a lifelong history of indigestion.