In US every year 20000women are being diagnosed with ovarian cancer. They present to the doctor because they feel abdominal pain, bloating, swelling and pelvis pressure. A pelvic examination can clear up the mystery related to these symptoms and will guide the doctor towards a proper treatment.



Women that know someone in their family had ovarian cancer before should go periodically to a specialist and ask for a check-up because they could develop this disease too at a moment in life.

For breast cancer, colon cancer and cervical cancer there are screening tests which can be applied to women at high risk of having these diseases but until now scientists could not find an efficient screening test for ovary cancer too so it is very hard to diagnose this affection from its early stages.

There are tests that can be done in order to see if the woman has ovarian cancer or not. The pelvic examination is one of them. By examining the vagina, the uterus, rectum and pelvis the doctor might find growths that should not exist in that area and so he might discover an eventual cancer.

The ultrasounds are also useful as they can show a possible tumor on the ovaries along with liquid in the abdomen (ascites). The bad thing is that ultrasounds can not tell if a tumor is cancerous or not or if the ascites is due to ovarian cancer or due to another affection.

CT and MRI scanning are also reliable tests as they show the doctor detailed images from the inside of the body, this way showing a possible tumor.

If the results of the tests point towards a possible ovarian cancer, surgery will be indicated to confirm or not this diagnose. By the help of a laparoscope the surgeon will take samples from the incriminated tissue and will send it to the laboratory for analyses.

If the laboratory results say there is cancer the surgeon will have to determine whether the cancer had spread to other organs and so will do the staging of the disease and will analyze the possible treatment methods.

In stage I the cancer is considered to have affected one or both ovaries;

In stage II the cancer is known to have spread to the local structures like uterus or fallopian tubes;

In stage III the peritoneum and the lymph nodes are affected by the cancer;

In stage IV the cancer has affected other organs too.

Ovarian cancer needs treatment as the disease does not disappear by itself. Surgery and chemotherapy are recommended to be associated.

In some cases by surgery only the affected ovary will be removed, along with the fallopian tube but in other cases where the disease is advanced, both ovaries, the fallopian tubes and the uterus will be removed along with the local lymph nodes.

Chemotherapy is a drug therapy that kills the cancerous cells which have remained in the body after surgery. In some cases the intravenous chemotherapy will be associated with the chemotherapy that is injected directly in the abdomen. Studies have showed that these methods may help women live longer.

There are certain methods to prevent the ovarian cancer from occurring: following an oral contraception treatment, pregnancy and breast feeding, and tubal ligation.