Quarter of women with serous ovarian cancer could get earlier diagnosis – UK study

A quarter of women with the most deadly form of ovarian cancer could receive an earlier diagnosis if they were tested and fast-tracked for specialist care, research suggests.

The analysis involved researchers looking at data from the Refining Ovarian Cancer Test accuracy Scores (ROCkeTS) study, which involved 24 hospitals across the UK.

Of the 1,741 patients who had their ovarian cancer test fast-tracked, 119 were diagnosed with high grade serous ovarian cancer, one of the more deadly variations of the disease.

Over a quarter (25.2%) of patients included in the study had been diagnosed with stage one or two ovarian cancer, and of these women, 93% went on to survive for more than five years. But the survival rates for patients who were diagnosed with advanced ovarian cancer were only 13%.

The study also found that patients whose cancer had already spread before diagnosis required “relatively straightforward” surgery to remove it.

Almost two-thirds of the patients included in the study, 78 out of 119, had surgery to remove as many cancer cells from the abdomen as possible, while 36 patients were given chemotherapy before surgery. Only five out of the 119 women did not undergo any surgery.

Currently, there is no national screening programme for ovarian cancer in the UK. Instead, since 2011 there is a testing programme called symptom triggered testing, which means that women who have symptoms such as bloating, bowel changes, appetite changes or abdominal pain should be prioritised for a blood test and ultrasound.

Prof Sudha Sundar, gynaecological cancer surgeon and a clinical academic at the University of Birmingham, said that it was uncertain whether this symptom-triggered testing was useful for patients.

Sundar said: “We know this particular cancer, which is the most common form of ovarian cancer, tends to spread across the tummy.

“A quarter of women were stage one, which is fantastic, but even when it had spread, what we’ve been able to show is that the spread was moderate in the majority of women.”

She added: “The implication of that, is that they can have relatively straightforward surgery to remove the cancer. Potentially we are not just able to identify women with cancer, but pick up ovarian cancer at a stage where it makes a very big difference for the individual.”

About 7,500 women each year in the UK are diagnosed with ovarian cancer, which among women is the sixth most common cancer.

• This article was amended on 14 August 2024. Owing to an error during editing, an earlier version referred to “serious” ovarian cancer, when “serous” was meant. Serous ovarian cancer is the name of the most common type, and high-grade means the cells can grow more quickly.