Published 29 September 2009, doi:10.1136/bmj.b3955
Cite this as: BMJ 2009;339:b3955

Letters

Ovarian cancer

Symptoms are not early signs of ovarian cancer

The first 150 words of the full text of this article appear below.

Hamilton and colleagues detected significant associations between bloating and increased abdominal distension and diagnosis of ovarian cancer,1 but these symptoms are not early signs of ovarian cancer but of advanced stage disease: an enlarged ovary, omental cake, or ascites. Visiting a doctor will result in diagnosis but not improved prognosis.

Bloating and abdominal distension are non-specific signs. Almost every woman has them in the second half of the menstrual cycle, and women with irritable bowel syndrome experience them frequently if not daily. As most women will not visit their general practitioners for these symptoms, this study cannot be regarded as population based.

Giving prominence to these non-specific signs and referring women to a gynaecologist for ultrasonography is not likely to be cost effective and will increase anxiety about cancer. On the basis of these results, abdominal distension and abdominal pain will yield, respectively, an additional 14 and 217 referrals yearly . . . [Full text of this article]

Marian J Mourits, professor and gynaecological oncologist1, Geertruida H de Bock, associate professor and clinical epidemiologist1

1 University Medical Centre Groningen, University of Groningen, Groningen, the Netherlands

M.J.E.Mourits@og.umcg.nl


Add to CiteULike CiteULike   Add to Complore Complore   Add to Connotea Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us Del.icio.us   Add to Digg Digg   Add to Reddit Reddit   Add to StumbleUpon StumbleUpon   Add to Technorati Technorati    What's this?

Relevant Articles

Authors’ reply
William Hamilton, Tim J Peters, and Deborah Sharp
BMJ 2009 339: b4413. [Extract] [Full Text]

Risk of ovarian cancer in women with symptoms in primary care: population based case-control study
William Hamilton, Tim J Peters, Clare Bankhead, and Deborah Sharp
BMJ 2009 339: b2998. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

This article has been cited by other articles:

  • Hamilton, W., Peters, T. J, Sharp, D. (2009). Authors' reply. BMJ 339: b4413-b4413 [Full text]  
Access jobs at BMJ Careers
Whats new online at Student BMJ