Ovarian Cancer

Dr. McDonald talks about some common symptoms of ovarian cancer and the demographic that it mostly affects. Matt McDonald, MD: Statistically speaking, the most common patients that acquire ovarian cancer are usually patients in advanced age, usually in their 60s or 70s. It is usually a disease that affects Caucasian women more frequently than other ethnic groups. Unfortunately though, what a lot of people don't know is ovarian cancer can affect really almost anyone and any age. The symptoms that women present with, with ovarian cancer are almost universally related to what we call mass effect, meaning that as the ovary enlarges, it pushes on other adjacent structures. Other structures that live in very close proximity to the ovary are the intestinal tract and urinary tract and so as an ovary enlarges, much like when women are pregnant, they will start having complaints related to those structures being compressed and what I mean by that is the bladder won't fill as much, meaning that there is a mass on the outside of the bladder pushing on the bladder and not allowing the