Ovarian Cancer Treatment

The ovaries sit deep in the pelvis, and disease there can grow without producing the clear early warning that bleeding gives in endometrial cancer. Symptoms that do appear are the kind most people attribute to digestion or stress.

Symptoms Worth Attention

• Persistent bloating or an increase in abdominal size
• Feeling full soon after starting to eat
• Pelvic or abdominal discomfort that does not settle
• A change in bowel or bladder habit without another explanation
• Unexplained weight loss

Each of these is common and usually caused by something else. What matters is persistence and change: symptoms that are new, continue for several weeks and are unlike your normal pattern deserve assessment.

Risk and Protective Factors

Reported risk factors include a family history of ovarian or breast cancer, inherited genetic changes, endometriosis, never having been pregnant, and increasing age.

Factors reported to reduce risk include use of oral contraceptives, with longer use associated with greater reduction, breastfeeding, tubal ligation and removal of the fallopian tubes. Where surgery is planned for another reason, removal of the tubes may be discussed as part of that operation.

Diagnosis

Assessment combines examination, transvaginal ultrasound and, where appropriate, blood markers and cross sectional imaging. No single test settles the question. A marker such as CA-125 can be raised by conditions that are not cancer, including endometriosis, so results are interpreted alongside imaging and the clinical picture rather than on their own.

Treatment

Treatment usually combines surgery and chemotherapy, and the order of the two depends on the extent of disease. The aim of surgery is to remove as much visible disease as possible, which in advanced cases can involve the peritoneum and neighbouring structures and requires subspecialty experience.

In selected early stage disease in younger patients, fertility preserving surgery may be considered where the pathology allows it. That decision is made with the pathology report in hand, not before.

Why Stage at Diagnosis Varies

Because the early symptoms are unspecific, ovarian cancer is more often found after it has spread beyond the ovary than endometrial cancer is. That is a statement about how the disease presents, not a prediction for any individual: the stage at which it is found depends on the pattern of symptoms and how quickly they were assessed.

Follow Up

After treatment, follow up combines examination, imaging and, where it was raised at diagnosis, marker measurement. A rising marker is a reason to look, not a diagnosis in itself, and it is interpreted alongside imaging.

Where an inherited risk is identified, the conversation extends beyond the patient: relatives may benefit from genetic assessment. Surgical options are covered on the laparoscopic and robotic surgery page and the subspecialty itself on the gynecologic oncology page.

For an assessment, see the contact page. This page is general information and does not replace an examination. Decisions about your own treatment can only be made after assessment.