Not a silent killer

doi:10.1136/bmj.b2719

Published 6 July 2009, doi:10.1136/bmj.b2719
Cite this as: BMJ 2009;339:b2719

Letters

Ovarian cancer

Not a silent killer

The first 150 words of the full text of this article appear below.

When will ovarian cancer stop being called the silent killer?¹If it were truly silent, general practitioners could hardlybe blamed for missing it. It is far from silent: its noise isdifficult to interpret.

Recent studies of newly diagnosed women show that symptoms arecommon and reported to general practitioners.² ³ Although thesymptoms are generally non-specific, general practitioners canidentify a significant proportion of women requiring investigation.In the GP records of a recent cohort from Devon, soon to bepublished in the BMJ, 196 of the 212 women with primary ovariancancer had either a symptom recorded or a mass noted beforediagnosis. Eighty eight were referred for investigation on thesame day as the first symptom was recorded, with a further 36within the next week. This leaves a minority of women who experiencediagnostic delays in primary care and who would benefit froma lowering . . . [Full text of this article]

William Hamilton, general practitioner and consultant senior lecturer¹, Alison Round, general practitioner², Debbie Sharp, general practitioner and professor¹

¹ University of Bristol, Bristol BS8 2AA, ² Castle Place Practice, Tiverton, Devon EX16 6NP

w.hamilton@bristol.ac.uk