10 signs you can watch out for to nip silent cancers in the bud

Some types of cancer give almost no warning signs until it is too late. These are called silent. This is the case with ovarian cancer and bowel cancer. Here are the symptoms that may serve as warnings.

Bowel cancer: silent signs

Bowel cancer is the 4th most common cancer in the United Kingdom with more than 42,300 new cases every year. That's 110 every day. Yet many of them are still diagnosed too late. Oncologist David Malka explains:

When we make a bowel cancer diagnosis, [...] unfortunately still too many patients are at an advanced stage. It can currently be estimated that about one in four patients, one in five patients already has cancer that has spread to the body in the form of metastases.

Several signs should indeed warn you. Now, these symptoms do not necessarily mean you do have cancer for sure, but they should be taken seriously and absolutely warrant a trip to the doctor's office. Endoscopy will allow a reliable diagnosis to be made.

• Transit disorders
• Constipation
• Diarrhoea
• Blood in stools
• Loss of appetite
• Unexplained weight loss
• Sensation of incomplete evacuation after a stool
• Gas, abdominal cramps and bloating
• Mass in the abdomen or rectum
• Recurrent nausea

Ovarian cancer: signs to watch out for

Ovarian cancer is also a silent cancer that could be cured more easily if caught earlier. The figures in this area rather speak for themselves, as Dr Alexandra Leary explains:

In the majority of cases, the tumour cells have emerged from the capsule of the ovary and spread into the abdominal cavity and it is usually at this stage when patients first realize that they have symptoms.

However, 80% of women treated for localized cancer 'will be alive five years later' when this figure drops to 30% for the advanced stages. Pelvic ultrasounds will allow a reliable diagnosis to be made. There are several signs that should worry you.

• Unexplained abdominal pain
• Frequent and urgent desire to urinate
• Weight loss
• Discomfort
• Bleeding between periods or after menopause
• Unexplained, increasing bloat
• Loss of appetite
• Mass or swelling in the abdomen
• Frequent vaginal discharge (white or tinged with blood)
• Digestive problems