full free access: eMJA: Pathways to the diagnosis of epithelial ovarian cancer in Australia

Note: excerpts below,  the tables included in the paper provide interesting information including patients with borderline tumours, 24% of patients in this study had a prior hysterectomy  etc...

Objective:

To describe the diagnostic pathways experienced by a large, representative group of Australian women with ovarian cancer, and to document the time between first presentation to a medical professional and clinical diagnosis.

Main outcome measures:

Number and type of doctors consulted, investigations performed, referral patterns and the time from first presentation to diagnosis.

Conclusions:

Despite anecdotal suggestions to the contrary, most women with ovarian cancer in Australia are investigated and diagnosed promptly. The diagnostic process is more protracted for a minority of women, and the factors we found to be associated with diagnostic delay warrant further investigation.

"........The numbers of symptoms reported, doctors seen and total doctor visits were all highly skewed. These variables were therefore summarised....."