7 Ovarian Cancer Signs That Can Be Easily Missed
Ovarian cancer is known as the “silent killer” for good reason—the disease doesn’t have as many obvious indicators as, say, breast or skin cancer. But that doesn’t mean women don’t experience symptoms. Oftentimes, though, those symptoms aren’t easy to spot.”They’re very discrete, easy to ignore, and can easily be attributed to other things like changing their diet,” says Shannon Westin, M.D., an associate professor in the department of gynecologic oncology and reproductive medicine at M.D. Anderson Cancer Center. Basically, “they’re easy to blow off,” says Westin. Unfortunately, dismissing the signs of ovarian cancer allows the disease to progress, making it more difficult to treat when it is detected. “But often that contributes to a delay in diagnosis.” The American Cancer Society (ACS), ovarian cancer is the fifth leading cause of cancer deaths in women and causes more deaths than any other cancer of the female reproductive system. Again, these symptoms ...