‘Symptom triggered’ test could pick up early-stage aggressive ovarian cancer in a quarter of women affected
One in four women with the most aggressive form of ovarian cancer could receive an earlier diagnosis if they were tested and fast-tracked for specialist care, new research has found.
New data has shown that symptom triggered testing, prompted by symptoms such as pain, abdominal bloating/swelling, and feeling full soon after starting to eat, could pick up early-stage aggressive ovarian cancer in a quarter of women affected.
The study, published in the International Journal of Gynaecological Cancer, found that the UK’s protocol for picking up early-stage disease in women with high grade serous ovarian cancer – the most common and lethal form of the disease – is an effective way to diagnose even early-stage ovarian cancer.
The research also showed that complete surgical removal of the cancerous tissue is possible even in more advanced disease, providing that women with suspicious symptoms are expedited for investigation and treatment.
Increasing awareness of ovarian cancer symptoms to facilitate earlier diagnosis
A team of researchers, led by the University of Birmingham, analysed data for 1,741 women taking part in the Refining Ovarian Cancer Test accuracy Scores (ROCkeTS) study, which involves 24 UK hospitals.
The women had all been fast-tracked for treatment under the symptom-triggered testing rapid access pathway.
Of the 1,741 women who had their ovarian cancer test fast-tracked, 119 were diagnosed with high grade serous ovarian cancer.
Over a quarter of participants included in the study had been diagnosed with stage one or two ovarian cancer, and of these women, 93 per cent went on to survive for more than five years. However, the survival rates for patients who were diagnosed with advanced ovarian cancer were only 13 per cent.
The study 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.
“Our figures demonstrate that in a real-world setting, symptom-based testing can potentially lead to diagnosis of high grade serous ovarian cancer with low disease spread and results in a high proportion of complete surgical removal of the cancer,” said lead author Sudha Sundar, professor of gynaecological cancer at the University of Birmingham.
“These findings challenge the assumption that the disease should always be considered to be in its advanced stages in women once they develop symptoms.
“More importantly, our findings emphasise the importance of increasing an awareness of ovarian cancer symptoms to facilitate earlier diagnosis via referral through the fast-track pathway to improve patient outcomes.”
More than 7,000 women in the UK are diagnosed with ovarian cancer each year. The disease is the sixth most common cancer in women.
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