Ovarian Cancer Guidelines Good First Step
Reported June 22, 2007
(Ivanhoe Newswire) — New guidelines outlining early symptoms of ovarian cancer are a step in the right direction, write the authors of an editorial in a leading medical journal.
Publishing in The Lancet, the researchers commend U.S. health organizations for issuing a statement aimed at helping both women and their doctors identify the deadly cancer at an earlier, and hopefully more treatable, stage.
The new guidelines suggest early symptoms may include:
New and persistent bloating or pelvic or abdominal pain
Difficulty eating or feeling full after eating only a small amount of food
Urinary frequency or urgency
While emphasizing there is no medical evidence confirming early identification of these symptoms may lead to better outcomes for women with the disease — and noting the symptoms are vague and could be the result of any number of relatively harmless conditions — the authors conclude anything that leads to an earlier diagnosis of ovarian cancer is a good thing.
“The statement is a move in the right direction. Its chief contribution might be to improve communication between women and their doctors,” they are quoted as saying.
Now they urge the medical community to take the next step by combining these new guidelines with other efforts, such as increased funding for ovarian cancer research, larger studies of early detection methods, education and awareness campaigns for physicians and the public; and the development of standardized diagnostic tools doctors can use to better identify the disease.
SOURCE: The Lancet, published online June 21, 2007