Ovarian cancer often goes undetected in its early stages, especially until it has spread around the abdomen and the pelvis. However, cancer is easier to treat when it is present only in the ovaries, and the chances of successful treatment are high. On the other hand, it is particularly difficult to treat in the later stages. Here, we’ll look at the signs and treatment options for ovarian cancer:

Symptoms
In the early stages, ovarian cancer rarely shows any symptoms, but the advanced stages might bring in a bunch of non-specific symptoms that might be misunderstood as the signs indicating some other benign condition. A few common symptoms of ovarian cancer are:

• Discomfort in the pelvic region
• Swelling and bloating in the abdomen
• A feeling of fullness with a small meal
• Unintentional weight loss
• Constipation
• Sudden changes in bowel habits
• Persistent or a frequent urge to urinate

Treatment
The signs and treatment options for ovarian cancer are interlinked. The symptoms are what help the doctor devise a suitable treatment plan to manage them and prevent future flare-ups. The common treatment options for ovarian cancer are chemotherapy and surgery, which are often combined to achieve the best results.

Surgery
Based on the severity of the disease, the surgical procedures performed to get rid of ovarian cancer include:

• Surgery for the removal of a single ovary
  If diagnosed in the earlier stages, ovarian cancer is restricted to a single ovary, so surgery might be performed only on the affected ovary and the fallopian tube. After this procedure, a woman can still bear children.
• Surgery for removal of both the ovaries
  If cancer has spread across the two ovaries, but there aren’t any additional signs indicating that the disease has spread to other parts of the body, surgery is performed to remove both ovaries and fallopian tubes. A woman can still bear a child through the use of a frozen egg or embryo or the egg of a donor.
• Surgery for the removal of uterus and ovaries
  If ovarian cancer is diagnosed at an advanced stage, the uterus, fallopian tubes, and both the ovaries are removed through surgery. This will also include the removal of the nearby lymph nodes and abdominal tissue.
• Surgery to treat advanced cancer
  In case cancer has advanced, a patient will be recommended chemotherapy and surgery for treatment.

Chemotherapy
This is a treatment in which strong medications are used to kill the rapidly multiplying cancerous cells.

Targeted therapy
This therapy uses medications that are targeted at specific vulnerabilities present in the cancerous cells. It primarily uses medications that are used for treating relapse after initial treatment. Alternatively, this treatment method might be used for people who are not responding to any other form of treatment.