LIKE many cancers, ovarian cancer has long been known as a ‘silent’ disease.
This is because it’s symptoms tend to be vague, easy to miss, or mistaken for something else.
New research from Censuswide found over a third (38 per cent) of British women aren’t familiar with any symptoms of ovarian cancer.
At least 97 per cent per cent of the 2,000 women surveyed didn’t know indigestion as one of the symptoms, for example.
While 92 per cent were not aware nausea, and difficulty emptying the bladder are both signs.
There are about 7,400 new ovarian cancer cases in the UK every year, and 4,000 deaths.
Almost six in 10 diagnosed at a late stage – which experts partially put down to the vague symptoms.
Meanwhile globally, the most recent data from 2022 recorded around 324,603 new cases of the disease, with 206,956 deaths.
This makes ovarian cancer one of the deadliest cancers for women, with relatively low survival rates worldwide.
According to figures from Ovarian Cancer Action, only three in 10 women diagnosed with the disease beyond 10 years.
While we do have a very good cervical screening programme in the UK this doesn’t detect ovarian cancer, which is why knowing the symptoms yourself is so important.
“A difficult issue with ovarian cancer is that many of the symptoms are often quite mild, and can be associated with other common conditions,” explained Dr Susanna Unsworth, a top gynaecologist from INTIMINA.
“The most well-known symptoms are a bloated feeling, along with abdominal or pelvic pain.
“These symptoms could often be associated with many other problems, and often resolve quickly.”
It is often misdiagnosed as bowel problems like irritable bowel syndrome, or mental health disorders like stress and depression.
As March marks ovarian cancer awareness month Dr Susanna has revealed the 10 ‘under-the-radar’ signs of the disease to watch out for before it’s too late.
- Urinary symptoms: increased frequency or urgency to pass urine
- Bowel changes: a change in bowel habit, either becoming more constipated or having looser stool
- A change in appetite or feeling full much more quickly when eating
- Indigestion symptoms: acid reflux or excess gas
- Low back pain
- Unexplained weight loss
- Excessive fatigue
- Pain when having sex
- A change in vaginal bleeding pattern:either in between periods, or after having sex, or developing bleeding after menopause
- Nausea and vomiting
“If you experience any of these issues that do not resolve within two to three weeks, I would encourage you to see your doctor,” she explained.
What is ovarian cancer?
Ovarian cancer is where abnormal cells in the ovaries begin to grow and divide, and eventually form a tumour.
If left untreated, these cancer cells can spread into surrounding tissues and make their way to other organs in the body.
“It can affect anyone with ovaries,” Dr Susanna explained.
“However, it is more common in women post menopause, with the risk increasing as women get older,” when the body starts making mistakes.
More than half the cases diagnosed in the UK are in women over the age of 65, according to Cancer Research.
What increases the risk?
Beyond ageing, there are several other factors that can up likelihood of developed ovarian cancer.
“Women who carry a faulty gene (e.g. BRCA genes) are more likely to develop the disease, as well as women who have had a history of endometriosis are at a higher risk,” the doctor said.
There is also some link between the number of periods a woman has and chance of having the disease.
“Women who started their periods early, go through menopause late, or have not used any hormonal contraception (which reduces ovulation) do appear to be also at higher risk,” she added.
There are also lifestyle factors that can also influence risk, including being overweight and smoking.
There is also a very small association with the use of hormone replacement therapy (HRT), although this risk is very small.
“Data mainly from older forms of HRT, showing around 1 extra case for every 1000 women who use HRT for more than 5 years,” she said.
World’s first ovarian cancer vaccine ‘could eliminate the deadly disease’
Scientists at the University of Oxford are creating OvarianVax, a jab which teaches the immune system to recognise and attack the earliest stages of ovarian cancer.
The hope is that the shot could be given to women preventatively on the NHS with the aim of eliminating the disease.
Experts suggest it could work in a similar way to the human papillomavirus (HPV) jab, which is on track to stamp out cervical cancer.
HPV jabs are currently dished out to secondary school children and people at high risk of the virus, cutting their risk of getting conditions linked to HPV – including cervical cancer and genital warts.
Prof Ahmed Ahmed, director of the ovarian cancer cell laboratory at MRC Weatherall Institute of Molecular Medicine at the University of Oxford, and his team are working to identify cellular targets for their ovarian cancer vaccine.
They will establish which proteins on the surface of early-stage ovarian cancer cells are most strongly recognised by the immune system, and how effectively the vaccine kills mini-models of ovarian cancer in the lab.
They will then move on to human clinical trials in people with BRCA gene mutations – which massively increase the risk of ovarian cancer – and healthy women in the general population to see if the disease could be prevented.
Cancer Research UK is funding the study with up to £600,000 over the next three years.
Prof Ahmed said that, if the jab is successful, he would expect to start seeing an impact within the next five years.
