Ovarian cancer can be a very challenging cancer to diagnose at an early stage because the symptoms are hard to recognise as they are similar to a number of non-serious conditions and have been described by many as “vague” and “non-specific” symptoms. Additionally, unlike breast cervical and bowel cancer there is no national screening programme for women because there currently isn’t a test that is accurate, specific and sensitive enough to be used as a national screening test.  This means that the majority of patients are diagnosed with late stage disease which is hard to treat.

This week scientists have published very encouraging data from a large 14-year study that shows that a test based on determining a woman’s CA125 (a protein found in the blood) profile is effective at detecting ovarian cancer. In fact it was found to identify 86% of ovarian cancers. This data could mean that we are one step closer to a screening test for ovarian cancer. The full data from the trial will be published at the end of the year and will tell us whether this test actually detects ovarian cancer early enough to save lives.

One of the lead investigators in this trial Prof Usha Menon said:

“These results are therefore very encouraging. They show that use of an early detection strategy based on an individual’s CA125 profile significantly improved cancer detection compared to what we’ve seen in previous screening trials.”

If the full results at the end of the year show that lives were actually saved through earlier detection of ovarian cancer, this will be one of the biggest breakthroughs in the detection of ovarian cancer and would for the first time enable a significant improvement in survival rates.