Detection of early stage ovarian cancer in a large community cohort.

Excluding women with genetic predisposition to ovarian cancer known prior to diagnosis, approximately three out of four cases of early stage ovarian cancer are detected as the result of evaluation of symptoms and one in four cases are detected incidentally. Abdominal pelvic CT and pelvic ultrasonography each detect an equal proportion of early stage cases. In contrast to late stage presentation, women diagnosed with early stage disease present more often with complaints of a palpable mass or postmenopausal bleeding, particularly to gynecologists.