The ovarian cancer is not silent, it is noisy," said Dr. William Hamilton, who led the study. "The problem is that we do not know how to decipher the noise. Ovarian cancer represents 4% of all female cancer cases, but it also has the worst prognosis," said Webmd.com wizard.The study and its results: the research included 212 women aged 40 and more who had been diagnosed with ovarian cancer. These women were compared with 1060 healthy women. Doctors examined medical records of patients one year prior to getting sick and then did the same thing with healthy women.

They were attentive to the early symptoms presented by the study participants and in what period such symptoms became noticeable. Thus, after research, they found seven early symptoms associated with ovarian cancer:
-Abdominal distension;
-Frequent urination;
-Abdominal pain;
-Post-menopausal bleeding;
-Loss of appetite;
-Anal bleeding;
-Bloating.



The researchers calculated what they call positive predictive value for each symptom, namely the possibility that a woman who shows a certain symptom to have ovarian cancer. Symptoms had positive predictive values low - less than 1% - except the abdomen disstensia, which had a value of 2.5%. "This value means that a woman at the age of 40 who has these symptoms, has ovarian cancer," said the study coordinator.

Carefully researching, researchers found that three of the symptoms of ovarian cancer - abdominal pain, abdominal distension and frequent urination - had been reported six months before diagnosis and were significantly associated with disease.  What is ovarian cancer? Ovarian cancer is the fourth cause of death from cancer in women, making annually worldwide, about 125,000 victims. Highest incidence of the disease in the U.S. and Northern Europe and lowest in Africa and Asia. Your risk increases with age, four out of five cases are diagnosed in women around the age of 50. The disease is usually diagnosed in advanced stages, so survival is very low, of only 30%.  In terms of treatment, there are two main options used for ovarian cancer: surgical and chemotherapy.



Radiotherapy is also occasionally used for specific cases or when there is no response to other treatments. Once the diagnosis was made, the next step is to determine the most appropriate treatment for the patient.  Symptoms persist? Go to the doctor!  "Women often use the term 'bloating' for 'abdominal distension'. In fact, experts believe that the progressive abdominal distension is increasing, while growth is intermittent bloating followed by a decrease," says Hamilton.

In present, abdominal distension is not listed among ovarian cancer symptoms and therefore it was not a reason for sending women to a specialist as soon as possible. According to the American Cancer Society, bloating is one of the symptoms that persist on women who have ovarian cancer.When you go to the doctor, the patient says she has this problem, then an expert reviews her, most likely with the help of a blood test or of a transvaginal ultrasound - one of the safest ways to detect ovarian cancer.

Under this new study, ovarian cancer is not "silent", as was seen so far. "I think it reinforces what other studies have shown, namely that there are more symptoms of ovarian cancer and that both patients and doctors should know how to detect the disease in its early stages,"said Dr. Andrew Li, a gynecologist at the Cedars Sinai Medical Center, Los Angeles.

It is very important not to ignore these symptoms or others who give you food for thought and when they persist to go to the doctor for a routine check. If cancer is diagnosed in advanced stages, survival rate is very low. This increases, however, reaching even 70% when the disease is diagnosed in an early stage.