The NHS is to trial an advanced blood test that may help detect early-stage ovarian cancer in a move that could save “thousands of lives”.
The trial, set to run across the West Midlands for 18 months, involves a blood test called ROMA (Risk of Ovarian Malignancy Algorithm).
The test looks at the CA125 score – a marker for ovarian cancer – the HE4 test score and the woman’s menopausal status to check for pre- and post-menopausal risk of cancer and malignant disease from ovarian cancer.
As part of the trial, it will be offered to those experiencing ovarian cancer symptoms to try and identify the disease at an earlier stage.
The project, led by Sandwell and West Birmingham and Walsall Healthcare NHS Trust, in partnership with the University of Birmingham, will see ROMA given to patients at GP surgeries run by care provider Modality.
Ovarian cancer is the fourth most common cause of cancer-related death in women worldwide. In the UK, it is the sixth most common cancer, with around 7,500 new cases every year.
“Unfortunately [for] women in the UK, the majority of women will be diagnosed at stage three or four ovarian cancer, when the cancer has spread beyond the ovaries and into other parts of the tummy,” Professor Sudha Sundar, from the University of Birmingham, told the BBC.
“If we are able to shift the way in which we are diagnosing ovarian cancer now, we will be able to substantially increase the number of lives saved in the UK and worldwide.
“I would put that number as thousands of lives [potentially] saved.”
Early detection of ovarian cancer can significantly improve the overall survival rate of women diagnosed with the disease.
However, diagnosis can be delayed since early signs may not be obvious. In the UK, one in five women with ovarian cancer are diagnosed in A&E and many do not receive any treatment for their disease, often because they are too unwell by the time they are diagnosed.
Researchers at Imperial College London have previously suggested that using loyalty card data on over-the-counter medicine purchases could help spot ovarian cancer cases earlier.
Dr James Flanagan, lead author for the study, from Imperial’s Department of Surgery & Cancer, said: “Using shopping data, our study found a noticeable increase in purchases of pain and indigestion medications among women with ovarian cancer up to eight months before diagnosis, compared with women without ovarian cancer.
“This suggests that long before women have recognised their symptoms as alarming enough to go to the GP, they may be treating them at home.
“As we know early diagnosis of ovarian cancer is key to improving chances of survival, we hope this research can lead to ovarian cancer symptoms being picked up earlier and improve patients’ options for treatment,” he added.
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