Why are most woman diagnosed with ovarian cancer in the advanced stages?
“That’s a question that I don’t think we have an answer to,” says Daly. “The traditional thinking has been because it doesn’t produce obvious, recognizable symptoms.” Since there are no clues the cancer is there, it is allowed to progress into the advance stages. The other theory has been that it just grows so rapidly that there is a very short period of time when it’s at an early stage. Experts still don’t really know which of those two theories are true. Why isn’t routine screening for ovarian cancer recommended? The existing tests, which are primarily ultrasound and a blood test called CA-125, have been studied in a variety of different settings. Unfortunately they aren’t accurate enough in early diagnosis of ovarian cancer to be used as a screening test for everyone. They either miss the cancer completely, or on the other hand, they are positive when there is no ovarian cancer. So their accuracy is too inadequate to make them useful as general screening tools. What symptoms were as
