An Internet Survey of Symptoms Associated With Intra-Abdominal Malignancies: Lack of Specificity for Ovarian Cancer

Background: There has been recent interest in the potential that the presence of specific symptoms may be useful in identifying the presence of ovarian cancer. However, the relative specificity of individual symptoms or a particular symptom complex for ovarian cancer remains uncertain. Patients and Methods: Patients with several cancer types (ovarian, cervix, endometrial, colorectal, pancreas) predominantly involving the peritoneal cavity who had previously participated in a proprietary internet-based decision-support program embedded within a number of oncology-related Web sites and who had agreed to receive information regarding future research projects were asked to respond to an online survey regarding symptoms that proceeded the diagnosis of their malignancy. Results: A total of 573 completed surveys (140 ovarian cancer patients) were received. Although a number of symptoms or combination of symptoms included in this survey were more commonly observed in one cancer type compared with another (eg, increased abdominal girth: ovarian, 67%; colorectal, 19%; bleeding: ovarian, 19%; colorectal, 53%), there was no suggestion that any observed pattern was reasonably specific for a particular malignant condition. Conclusion: This analysis fails to support the hypothesis that focusing attention on a pattern of nonspecific symptoms will be helpful in the diagnosis of ovarian cancer.