Better ovarian cancer testing planned

27^th April 2011 - Women with symptoms associated with ovarian cancer are to be offered a special blood test to help detect cases more quickly, start treatment earlier and save more lives.

The National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) is recommending that GPs who see women with recurring symptoms such as bloating, feeling full quickly, lower abdominal pain and urinating urgently or frequently should arrange a blood test that can detect abnormal levels of CA125 protein. A raised level of this protein may indicate the presence of ovarian cancer.

Ovarian cancer

Ovarian cancer is the fifth most common cancer in women, with around 6,800 women being diagnosed every year in the UK.

65% of women will not live beyond five years of their diagnosis.

Chemotherapy and surgery are more effective the earlier the cancer is diagnosed, however ovarian cancer is difficult to diagnose from the symptoms alone.

Faster ovarian cancer diagnosis

Dr Fergus Macbeth is director of the centre for clinical practice at NICE. He tells us, "Outcomes for ovarian cancer in the UK appear to be worse than for a number of other comparable European countries, and that obviously is a cause for concern.

"Patients in the UK are probably diagnosed later than they are in other countries and that may be partly the reason why the outcomes appear to be less good."

Earlier cancer detection is a key government health priority. "If you talk to women who are diagnosed with ovarian cancer, they actually have symptoms for a long period beforehand, but they're just not recognised as being symptoms of ovarian cancer."

Macbeth says is it hard for doctors to make a diagnosis on symptoms like bloating and abdominal pain alone: "They are vague symptoms. If the symptoms are persistent, these are things which need to be taken seriously. It isn't just a woman occasionally feeling bloated or full after meals, but that symptom being persistent and recurring over a relatively short period of time."

Some of the symptoms, he says, are also associated with irritable bowel syndrome (IBS), but he explains:  "A new diagnosis of irritable bowel syndrome is uncommon in women over 50. Somebody who turns up at a clinic with persistent symptoms that raises the possibility of changes in bowel habits should really be treated a bit more seriously."

Are the tests available now? Macbeth says: "The availability of the CA125 blood test in primary care [GPs] is quite variable around the country." He points out that this is something which will need to be addressed following publication of the guidelines, including access to laboratories for the blood tests.

Overall, Dr Macbeth believes the new guidelines will help to save lives: "If we can have women diagnosed earlier, then we will be able to have more women potentially cured of this condition."