Hospiten recommends regular check-ups as a measure for early detection of ovarian cancer in its initial stages. This oncological disease is characterized by the scarcity of its own symptoms and, therefore, its difficulty in detection. In this regard, Hospiten reminds us that routine gynecological check-ups, in which an adnexal mass suspicious of malignancy can be detected, allow this cancer to be diagnosed in its early stages, which completely changes the patient's prognosis.

This disease has an incidence of 9.4 cases per 100,000 women per year at our country, and although it is not the main cause of death within this health area, it does register high levels of mortality.

The specialist in Gynecologic Oncology at Hospiten Rambla University Hospital, Dr. María Laseca Modrego, explains that this is due to the fact that 70% of diagnoses occur in advanced stages. "This happens for two reasons: the absence of a good screening method for early diagnosis and the absence of characteristic initial symptoms," she says.

"Since there are no visible signs of this disease in the initial phase of the cancer, nor is there a specific pattern of symptoms in advanced stages, it is complicated to attend to this disease early," she adds. Dr. Laseca explains that "some of the most common symptoms are abdominal discomfort, gastrointestinal problems or other urinary symptoms. However, it is difficult to define an exact characteristic presentation. As a consequence of this inaccuracy of the symptoms, almost all patients tend to go first to a specialist in digestive medicine and other specialists rather than to gynecology," she says.

With regard to treatment, the specialist affirms that surgery and subsequent chemotherapy is the most common, always depending on the stage of the disease. "In advanced stages, the corresponding treatment would be cytoreductive surgery and chemotherapy, although the order of the treatments can be interchanged depending on the characteristics of the patient," she explains.

Regarding new therapies, Dr. María Laseca states that there are new targeted therapies that have recently been included to treat the presence of these tumors, highlighting PARP inhibitor treatments. "This therapy is designed for patients who present a mutation in the BRCA gene or homologous recombination deficiency and has shown a significant increase in the survival of patients with ovarian cancer without reducing their quality of life," she concludes.

Hospiten reaffirms its commitment to the wellbeing of patients through regular preventive check-ups to detect and treat this type of disease as quickly as possible. The team of healthcare professionals continues to incorporate techniques that help to improve the quality of services and people's health.

This article is an English translation generated with Al from the original Spanish content. While we review content for clarity, the information is provided for general informational purposes only and should not be  considered medical advice. Always consult a qualified healthcare professional for diagnosis or treatment