Women have been told to familiarize themselves with the symptoms of ovarian cancer to enable them to make early diagnosis of the disease.

AIC Litein Annex Clinic, resident surgeon Dr. Philip Blasto, says early diagnosis is key in curbing the disease before it advances to unmanageable levels.

Speaking at the facility, Dr. Blasto says there are no specific symptoms and it was hard to diagnose them early unless someone has undergone ultra sound or imaging for other reasons.

“The word cancer has featured a lot in the media, and people are afraid whenever it is mentioned. There are various cancers for which screening is available, but for ovarian cancer, there are no screening modalities available.

He agitated for personal check-up of ovarian cancer, pointing out that there was no active screening for the disease.

He cited old age and family history as factors that can increase the development of the disease, which, can be eliminated through surgery or chemotherapy.

“Since the ovaries are very small, when you start to have the symptoms, the cancer has grown in size or there is excess fluid. It is really difficult to diagnose them early unless a patient has undergone ultra sound or imaging for another review, so then they are not easily noted. For ovarian cancer, there are no screening modalities available. People should seek health care even if they have swellings, as not all of them will be malignant and require chemotherapy, and some of them require basic surgery,” he noted.

Dr. Blasto noted some swelling can be removed through surgery adding that the facility conducted a successful surgery on a 50-year-old woman, who, after a series of evaluations and a biopsy, was detected with a huge benign mass from one of her ovaries.

The woman had lived with a mass swelling on her abdomen for a period of four months, but upon a biopsy, it came out as benign, and we removed it through surgery. The mass swelling was around five kilograms. She is now doing well, added Dr. Blasto.

Ovaries, found in the female reproductive system, produce eggs as well as progesterone and oestrogen hormones, are situated on the left and right sides of the uterus.

Cancer of the ovaries occurs when there is cell growth in the ovaries.

Alterations in the menstrual cycle, including bleeding in the middle of the month, abdominal distention without a specific reason, either from the growth of cells in the ovaries or the building up of abdominal fluid, as well as changes in bowel movements as some of the red flags for the disease.

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