Current tests for ovarian cancer ‘not enough’: study
Posted February 10, 2012 10:36 am.
This article is more than 5 years old.
The most deadly type of ovarian cancer often starts outside the ovary and goes unnoticed in standard tests, according to researchers at McGill University.
The Diagnosing Ovarian Cancer Early (DOvE) study, published in the current issue of the Lancet Oncology, found high-grade serous cancer (HGSC) regularly stems from the fallopian tubes and not the ovaries.
“As the killer variety of ovarian cancer is not really cancer of the ovary, we have to rethink the current diagnostic test, or these cancers will be missed,” said lead researcher Dr. Lucy Gilbert.
“Put bluntly, we had the name wrong … and the diagnostic testing wrong. It is no wonder we have lost so many lives to this disease.”
The McGill team started DOvE in May 2008 to assess women with symptoms earlier, when they have a better chance of getting rid of the cancer through surgery.
Researchers say the usual ultrasound scan of the ovaries and blood test are not enough to diagnose HGSC in time and 70 per cent of the women diagnosed with ovarian cancer will die unless the tests change.
The university is setting up 12 satellite clinics to make it easier for women to access new testing.
The study also found that women more than 50 years old with vague symptoms — such as bloating, frequent urination, and abdominal or pelvic discomfort — are about 10 times more likely to have ovarian cancer than women without symptoms.
Every year 216,000 women worldwide are diagnosed with ovarian cancer.
