Waiting Time for Ovarian Cancer Treatment Found to be Longer Than Almost all Other Malignancies
Patients with ovarian cancer were found to have longer waiting times for treatment compared with those with patients who have been diagnosed with other malignancies, according to a report from Target Ovarian Cancer.1
On average, women who are suspected to have ovarian cancer wait an average of 69 days following referral from a general practitioner in order to begin treatment, marking the second longest wait time aside from patients diagnosed with kidney cancer.
“It’s not helped by the fact that two thirds of women with ovarian cancer are diagnosed late. They can often confuse ovarian cancer symptoms with more common conditions like [irritable bowel syndrome] or menopause, which can delay things further, and [general practitioners] often misdiagnose the symptoms as another condition like a [urinary tract infection],” Alexandra Holden, deputy chief executive of Target Ovarian Cancer, said in a press release.2 She added that “the causes behind the protracted waiting times for treatment are ‘complex’ and must ‘urgently’ be looked into.”
Read more from Cancer Network, by Ariana Pelosci, about Waiting Time for Ovarian Cancer Treatment Found to be Longer Than Almost all Other Malignancies
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