Worried

[Jason C.]

My girlfriend will be 50 years old in a few months and has gained about 14lbs. in about 5 or 6 months and has some noticeable blowting.  She has also has had pain in her belly as well.  She says that she also get really bad hunger like pains in her stomach.  She has had some spotting after intercourse as well as having pain during.  So ofcourse the first thing she thought it could be was ovarian cancer.  I've read a lot on ovarian cancer and it's symptoms and the symptoms also are the same for other things less scary.  She has had the CA 125 test done which came back negitive.  I have read that you can get false positives and false negatives from this test.  She has had an ultrasound done and it showed that she has a cyst in her overy that measures 6 cm.  Could the pain that she has during intercourse be from the cyst or could it be from something else?  She is really concern, as am I about her blowting that has come on rather fast.  She has an appointment to have a laparoscapy done but not for another month.  Is there any advice you could give me on what could be causing her blowting or the other symptoms she is having?  Can having a laparoscapy done rule out ovarian cancer?  If not, what can or should she have done to set her as well as my mind at ease concerning ovarian cancer?  

[Annekathryn Goodman, M.D.]

Dear Jason,
I agree with Islander. If your girlfriend has a 6 cm ovarian cysts and is having pain, she should ask her doctor about looking at the cyst by surgery. most cysts are benign but they can cause pain if they get over 4 cm in size.
best wishes

[islander]

I look forward to the answer you get.  All I know is that they can not tell if its cancer until they are in there.  They take a peak, biopsy it and if its cancer take whatever needs to be removed out.  I have a solid complex lesion / mass around the same size. Just had my obgyn oncologist appointment today and they will schedule me for the surgery to do just what I mentioned.
From what I have read around this forum you want to have an obgyn onc work on you. This way if it is cancer they can take care of it them and not have to reschedule for another surgery. Good luck to her!

[Jason C.]

I should also mention she has lower back pain as well.