Finding and Surviving Ovarian Cancer

Detection And Treatment

What happens if the doctor feels a growth on my ovary?

The doctor will order a vaginal ultrasound exam. In this exam, a long device called a vaginal ultrasound probe is coated with gel and inserted into your vagina. This is a completely painless procedure. Your doctor can look at the ultrasound image on a computer screen to see if there is a tumor-like growth in the ovaries. If there is a tumor-like growth in the ovary, the ultrasound test cannot tell whether the tumor is cancer. The only way to determine for sure if the tumor contains cancer is to remove some cells from the abnormal ovary.

This requires surgery with full anesthesia. Anesthesia is the medication given to you that causes you to sleep during surgery. During surgery, the tumor growth is removed from the ovary so the doctor can examine the tumor cells under the microscope.

If cancer is found, the doctor will need to remove all of the cancer from the ovary and from the abdomen if the cancer has spread beyond the ovary. If you are post-menopausal or do not desire more children, the doctor might recommend removing your affected ovary or both ovaries during this procedure, whether you are found to havecancer or not.

If you do have cancer, the doctor will do a blood test called CA-125 to help evaluate the course of ovarian cancer over time.