A SCREENING programme for ovarian cancer has moved a step closer after a trial involving thousands of women reported success in detecting the disease.
Researchers used blood tests and ultrasound scans to identify the disease – sometimes known as the "silent killer" because it is often diagnosed late – in its earliest stages.
The team, writing in the journal Lancet Oncology, found the screening
tests were sensitive enough to detect early cancers, but further work was needed before they could be rolled out on a wider scale.
More than 6,800 women are diagnosed with ovarian cancer annually in the UK, including 600 in Scotland. More than 4,400 women died from the disease in 2006.
The UK Collaborative Trial of Ovarian Cancer Screening – the largest such trial to be conducted – has recruited more than 202,000 women aged 50 to 74 to test different methods of detecting cancer.
The women were split into three groups – one with no screening, one screened using a blood test and follow-up ultrasound where necessary, and one with ultrasound only.
The blood test measures levels of the protein CA125 which is often higher in women with ovarian cancer.
Out of more than 100,000 women who were screened, cancer or borderline tumours were picked up in 87 patients.
Almost half of the 58 cancers detected (48 per cent) were at an early stage.
When diagnosed early, the cancer is still confined to the ovary, and the disease is 90 per cent curable. This drops to only 20-30 per cent when cancer is more advanced.
Lead researcher Professor Ian Jacobs, from University College London, said that more work was needed to balance any benefits of screening to the downsides. Screening can cause anxiety and lead to unnecessary operations.
Of the women screened using ultrasound, 845 had surgery to remove their ovaries, and 45 were found to have cancer.
The researchers put this difference down to the number of older women who have benign ovarian cysts which are detected by ultrasound.
But screening was able to detect the majority of tumours – while 87 were identified, only 13 were missed.
Dr Usha Menon, the trial co-ordinator, said the results were "extremely encouraging".
"The early results suggest that both types of screening can be used on a large scale and both successfully identify ovarian cancers," Dr Menon said.
"However, we must wait till 2015 before we can conclude whether a wider screening programme could lead to a fall in deaths due to ovarian cancer."
Peter Reynolds, chief executive of Ovarian Cancer Action, welcomed the results but said, in the absence of a screening programme, awareness of symptoms needed to improve.
EARLY WARNING SYMPTOMSOVARIAN cancer was once frequently called the "silent killer", with most women not being diagnosed until the cancer had spread.
But experts increasingly believe that a set of particular symptoms could alert women and doctors to the possibility of the disease, even in the early stages. Diagnosis can be difficult because symptoms are often similar to those caused by more common and less serious conditions.
Symptoms to look out for if they last for a long time include persistent pelvic and stomach pain, increased abdominal size and bloating, and difficulty eating and feeling full quickly.
Other symptoms such as urinary problems, extreme fatigue or back pain may also be experienced.
