A simple indigestion or tendency of bloating in women could be early symptoms of ovarian cancer, doctors said on Saturday.
This disease could be a silent killer as the number of cases of ovarian cancer in India has gone up compared to that of breast cancer or cervical cancer in the past few years. They were speaking at the sidelines of an event by Suraksha Diagnostics.
“This disease is severely under-reported in India but still around 30,000 women die every year with ovarian cancer,” said Ashima Mukhopadhyay, head of the department of gynaecological oncology, Chittaranjan National Cancer Institute.
Mukhopadhyay said from her experience at the CNCI, it was evident that seven out of 10 patients who turn up at the hospital were suffering from ovarian cancer. “Ten years ago, the number of cervical cancer patients was far more.”
Suraksha Diagnostics has entered into a tie-up with the Calcutta Gynaecological Oncology trials and Translational Research Group, founded by Mukhopadhyay, to launch a “homologous recombination deficiency” (HRD) test.
Somnath Chatterjee, director, Suraksha Diagnostics Pvt Ltd, said there was a “67 per cent rise in ovarian cancer in 2020 in India that needs affordable testing.”
According to a report based on a study in Bengal by the Indian Council of Medical Research in 2021, of all the reported cases of cancer in women, as much as 7.6 per cent comprise ovarian cancer.
City oncologists not related to the event, when asked about the incidence of ovarian cancer in Bengal, also emphasised on the need to create awareness for early detection.
Surgical oncologist Gautam Mukhopadhyay told Metro bloating, indigestion and vaginal bleeding were some of the symptoms that could indicate ovarian cancer.
“Lack of symptoms or very ordinary symptoms make its diagnosis so late.”