Three steps to diagnose ovarian cancer

Ovarian cancer is common in perimenopausal women, and patients often have persistent abdominal pain, tenderness, abdominal mass, increased abdominal circumference, postmenopausal vaginal bleeding, progressive weight loss, etc. The diagnosis of ovarian cancer can be divided into early diagnosis, localization diagnosis and qualitative diagnosis, which is called the trilogy of ovarian cancer diagnosis.

1. Early diagnosis

Ovarian cancer lacks specific symptoms and signs in its early stages, so diagnosis requires a detailed medical history and gynecological examination. High-risk groups such as those with ovarian dysfunction, hard, fixed masses palpable in the abdomen, long-term unexplained gastrointestinal or urinary tract symptoms, and postmenopausal vaginal bleeding need to undergo appropriate imaging examinations or tumor marker tests in order to make an early diagnosis.

2. Positioning diagnosis

For those who have obvious masses in the early stage, it is not difficult to locate the diagnosis combined with imaging examinations. However, some patients have extraovarian metastasis when the primary tumor is small and form scattered small nodules in the pelvis. At this time, it is advisable to choose some special examination methods to assist in diagnosis to avoid delaying diagnosis and treatment.

3. Qualitative diagnosis

Qualitative diagnosis of ovarian cancer can be made through laboratory diagnostic methods such as vaginal posterior fornix aspiration smear examination, rectouterine pouch puncture fluid examination, ascites cytology examination, etc.; serum tumor marker examination is highly sensitive to ovarian cancer, but lacks specificity. The combined detection of multiple tumor markers can improve the reliability of qualitative diagnosis; laparoscopy, vaginal ultrasound and other imaging examinations can make a qualitative diagnosis of the scope, internal structure and nature of ovarian cancer foci.