Early-stage ovarian carcinoma presenting with irritative voiding symptoms and urge incontinence

The detection of ovarian cancer remains a major challenge for gynecologists, as the majority of cases are symptomatically silent until regional metastases or ascites have occurred. This report examines a case of early-stage ovarian adenocarcinoma presenting with irritative voiding symptoms and urge incontinence, all of which resolved fully following surgery. We also report on the frequency of lower urinary tract symptoms leading to the detection of early-stage ovarian cancer, within a cohort of 52 consecutive patients surgically treated at our institution. Lower urinary tract symptoms may trigger the diagnosis of early ovarian cancer in up to 11% of surgically managed patients at our institution. To our knowledge there are no previous reports of early ovarian cancer causing transient irritative voiding symptoms or urge incontinence. This report highlights the importance of considering ovarian neoplasm as a relatively uncommon but critically important etiology accounting for these common female urologic complaints.