Symptoms
If you have any of these symptoms, or if they are new for you and you have experienced them multiple times during a four-week period, contact your doctor to assist with diagnosis. Most women develop ovarian cancer after menopause and 50% are older than 65 years.
- Changes in your bowel habits.
- Unexplained weight gain or weight loss.
- Bleeding between periods or after menopause.
- Back pain.
- Indigestion or nausea.
- Excessive fatigue.
- Pain during intercourse.
It is important to remember that most women with these symptoms will not have ovarian cancer. Your doctor should first rule out more common causes of these symptoms, but if there is no clear reason for your symptoms, your doctor needs to consider the possibility of ovarian cancer. If you are not comfortable with your doctor’s diagnosis or you are still concerned about unexplained persistent symptoms, you should seek a second opinion.
Ovarian cancer is the growth of malignant cells in one or both ovaries, and is often accompanied by the spread of malignant cells to surrounding organs in the abdominal cavity. Whilst a small number of cases appear to have an underlying genetic component, in most instances the causes of ovarian cancer are unknown.
