Early Detection of Ovarian Cancer: Bloating Symptom Could Save Lives 

Early Detection of Ovarian Cancer: Bloating Symptom Could Save Lives. Credit | Getty Images
Early Detection of Ovarian Cancer: Bloating Symptom Could Save Lives. Credit | Getty Images

United States: About one in four women with the most lethal form of ovarian cancer could have the disease diagnosed at an early stage if persistent bowel symptoms such as feeling bloated after eating quickly referred to a specialist, researchers have found. 

More about the news 

Every year, approximately seven thousand five hundred women are diagnosed with ovarian cancer in the UK; we can expect less than a third to celebrate the next ten years of their lives, as the Daily Mail reported. 

Indeed, although treatment is available for a range of psychiatric disorders, the disorder can often be deemed to be present when the signs of the disease are present. 

More about the findings 

Today’s researchers state that symptoms such as bloating and having the sensation of fullness during a meal are signs that necessitate prompt evaluation as they may be manifestations of the disease and can appear a full three years before a diagnosis is made, as Daily Mail reported. 

Early Detection of Ovarian Cancer: Bloating Symptom Could Save Lives. Credit | iStock
Early Detection of Ovarian Cancer: Bloating Symptom Could Save Lives. Credit | iStock

Unfortunately, there is no nationally funded screening program for ovarian cancer, but there is what is termed ‘symptom triggered testing,’ which is aimed at ensuring that people with symptoms that may point towards the disease avail themselves of a blood test and an ultrasound. 

However, the experts said that it was never trialed, and many GPs believed that few, if any, women with ovarian cancer show signs of the disease. 

However, a cross-sectional survey of 1,741 patients on the fast-track pathway pointed to the benefits of having symptom-triggered testing. 

Details about the study 

In a study completed in the International Journal of Gynaecological Cancer, they identified 119 of these patients as having been diagnosed with high-grade serous ovarian cancer, as Daily Mail reported. 

Some 25.2 percent of the group had the disease at early stages one or two, that is before cancer has begun to grow aggressively or metastasize in other body parts. 

Of women diagnosed with stage three ovarian cancer who live beyond the five-year mark, 93 percent of women diagnosed with stage one or two ovarian cancer survive the disease. 

However, the survival statistics drop to only 13 percent in patients diagnosed at the final stages of their illness.