United States: Ovarian cancer which is oftenly called a “silent killer” because it usually spreads before symptoms appear, but a new study offers hope for earlier treatment.
Researchers in Britain found that when symptoms of aggressive ovarian cancer appear early, doctors can use “symptom-triggered testing” to catch the disease sooner. This approach led to successful removal of almost all visible cancer in three-quarters of the patients, challenging the idea that ovarian cancer is always too advanced once symptoms arise.
As reported by HealthDay, the study highlights that early and very rare detection and intervention can significantly improve treatment outcomes.
Instead, our findings emphasize the importance of increasing an awareness of ovarian cancer symptoms to facilitate the earlier diagnosis said the senior author Dr. Sudha Sundar.
She is basically a professor of gynecological cancer at the University of Birmingham in England.
Current Screening Protocols in the UK
The United Kingdom adopted symptom-triggered testing for the women who are for ovarian cancer as a standard protocol in year 2011.
Under the protocols if a woman experiences symptoms such as pain, abdominal bloating/swelling and feeling full soon after starting to eat and they are referred to further testing.
As reported by HealthDay, that screening which involves a blood test looking at the levels of a protein called CA125, a biomarker for the possible presence of ovarian cancer, plus an abdominal ultrasound.
If the positive results are found and the patients is fast-tracked for referral to hospital review within the next two weeks.
Study Details and Findings
The new study included the data on almost 1,741 women with ovarian cancer treated at 24 British hospitals.
Of those women, 119 were diagnosed as having high-grade serous ovarian cancer – the most prevalent, malignant and fatal type of ovarian tumor. The patients were of average age 63 years of age and 90% of the patients were post-menopausal.
Sundar’s team also appreciated that despite appearance of the symptoms the cancer does not limit day-to-day functioning of the women in 94%.
But paying attention to symptoms paid off: Among the patient newly diagnosed with the disease, a quarter was still in the early stages; stage 1 or 2 respectively as identified by the study.
Impact of Early Detection
At the time of diagnosis, in 36% of the 119 patients the tumour remained within the pelvic region. Moderate spread was seen in 29 percent of patients; high spread was observed in 27 percent women to the lower abdomen as well as to liver or spleen.
About three quarters of them were referred to surgeries in attempts to excise some part of the tumor.
Only in one of eight patients was the cancer too far progressed for surgical removal, the Birmingham team observed; and of 119 cases, 73 patients had all known malignancy successfully excised.
Conclusions and Implications
In another 15 patients, labelling near-complete excision of visible cancerous tissues as excision was done, said the delegates.
In most of the cases, chemotherapy was also administered either preoperatively or postoperatively.
The authors said that their figures show that the results of symptom-based testing can mean the diagnosis of high-grade serous ovarian cancer with a low level of tumour spread and that most of the cases can be surgically treated successfully.
“These findings raise some questions to the assertion that the disease should always be looked at as being advanced in women once they notice certain symptoms, she said.