When it comes to gynecological tumors with a high incidence of women, everyone thinks of endometrial cancer, breast cancer, and cervical cancer.
In fact, in addition to these types of malignant tumors, in recent years, affected by a variety of factors, the incidence of female ovarian cancer is also increasing year by year. In 2020 alone, the number of newly diagnosed ovarian cancer patients in mainland China will reach about 60,000!
Because ovarian cancer lacks symptoms in the early stages, it is not specific even if symptoms appear. Not only that, the location of the ovaries is very special, and the role of ordinary screening is quite limited.
Therefore, compared with endometrial cancer and cervical cancer, the early diagnosis of ovarian cancer is quite difficult, and nearly 60 to 70% of patients have entered an advanced state when they are diagnosed.
The efficacy of advanced ovarian cancer is relatively poor, and more than 60% of patients have died within 1 year of diagnosis. Therefore, although the incidence rate of ovarian cancer is lower than that of cervical and endometrial carcinogenesis, its mortality rate exceeds these two types of malignant tumors, ranking first in the tumor of female reproductive organs, which is a disease that seriously endangers women's health.
So the question is, is there any hope of ovarian cancer to be discovered, and what are its symptoms?
First of all, in the early stages of ovarian cancer, patients do not show any symptoms. However, as the condition progresses, different symptoms will still appear. For example, the following four symptoms have suddenly found themselves in the past, and beingware is a sign of ovarian cancer:
1. Abdominal mass
In mainland China, some ovarian cancer patients seek medical screening because they inadvertently touch the mass in the lower abdomen. This is so because cell cancer not only forms tumors, but they also divide and cause tumors to enlarge.
When the tumor enlarges, the patient has a pronounced lower abdominal bulge and can feel the mass in the lower abdomen. This lump can be mobile or fixed, with a soft and hard texture that can sometimes produce tenderness;
2. Menstrual disorders
Women form a unique cycle precisely because the ovaries have ovulation and endocrine functions.
The endometrium will change periodically with the function of the ovaries, for example, the endometrium will gradually thicken before and after ovulation, and if the egg does not bind to the sperm, the fertilized egg implants, as the level of estrogen and progesterone decreases, the endometrium will fall off and mixed blood will be excreted.
When the ovarian function is destroyed by cancer cells, patients may have problems such as menorrhagia, menstrual disorders, and amenorrhea;
3. Abdominal pain
One of the common symptoms of solid malignancies is pain, which is the most typical signal of cancer, and ovarian cancer is no exception.
Abdominal pain induced by ovarian cancer can be roughly divided into two situations, the first is that ovarian cancer invades the peritoneum and compresses the peripheral nervous system, causing abdominal pain and low back pain.
Second, there are complications of ovarian cancer, such as the occurrence of pedicle twisting, rupture, and co-infection of the cancer, and the patient may have obvious pain in the lower abdomen;
4. Vulva or lower extremity edema
Both the ovaries and the uterus are very blood-flowing organs, and there are a large number of veins and blood vessels distributed around the ovaries.
When the ovarian cancer grows to a certain extent, it will compress the veins around the pelvis, resulting in blood flow disorders, lymph fluid can not flow normally, and then develop edema.
Edema induced by ovarian cancer may occur in both the vulva and may develop into lower extremity edema.
In addition to the above four symptoms, ovarian cancer patients may also have digestive tract reactions, palpitations, dyspnea, ascites, fatigue and emaciation, anemia and other manifestations.
If you suddenly have similar symptoms in the near future to find yourself, especially suddenly touch the abnormal tumor in the lower abdomen, you need to be vigilant and seek medical treatment for screening at the first time.