NHS bowel screening programme will offer specialist assessment every two years to people with condition Thousands of people in England with Lynch syndrome, a genetic condition that increases the risk of cancer, are to be offered “gamechanging” screening on the NHS. The world-first programme aims to reduce the number of cancer cases and identify them earlier when successful treatment is more likely ..read more

Researchers find pain and indigestion medication purchases were higher in women who went on to be diagnosed Loyalty card data on over-the-counter medicine purchases could help spot ovarian cancer cases earlier and enable more patients to fully recover, researchers have found. Pain and indigestion medication purchases were higher in women who went on to be diagnosed with ovarian cancer, usually about eight months later, according to a study of almost 300 women led by Imperial College London researchers ..read more

Researchers find odds of having ovarian cancer up to 2.6 times higher for women carrying genetic risk factors for endometriosis Women with genes that predispose them to endometriosis also have a higher risk of developing certain ovarian cancers, new research suggests. A study of genetic markers in nearly 15,000 women with endometriosis and more than 25,000 women with ovarian cancer has found what researchers say is a causal link between the two conditions ..read more

Shannon Beattie is among 39 to be honoured in the Women in Innovation awards to mark International Women’s Day on 8 March About 20 women a day are diagnosed with ovarian cancer in the UK. Their condition is often well advanced before it is detected, making their tumours difficult to treat. But if Belfast researcher Shannon Beattie is successful, it may be possible in the near future to make detections of ovarian cancer much more speedily and more accurately than today ..read more

Despite better awareness, many fail to act on appearance of symptoms such as bloating and swollen tummy GPs and women are still ignoring key symptoms of ovarian cancer despite better awareness of the disease, a charity has warned, prompting fears that yet more patients will be diagnosed late and “die needlessly”. Symptoms include frequently having a swollen tummy or feeling bloated; pain or tenderness in the tummy or the pelvis; having no appetite or feeling full quickly after eating, and an urgent need to pee or needing to pee more often, according to the NHS ..read more

Experts may be able to predict risk of developing ovarian, breast, womb and cervical cancers using cells from routine smear test Scientists are developing a “revolutionary” test to predict a woman’s risk of four cancers using a single sample collected during cervical screening. Using cervical cells from a routine smear test, experts may be able to spot ovarian and breast cancer or predict their likelihood of developing, according to two papers published in the journal Nature Communications. Further results are due on the ability of the WID-test – women’s cancer risk identification – to predict ..read more

Trend mainly due to use of oral contraceptives, says research published in Annals of Oncology Death rates from ovarian cancer in the UK are predicted to have fallen by 17% in 2022 compared with five years ago, according to research. Researchers said the trend was mainly due to the use of oral contraceptives, a factor that also explains the difference between the UK and European Union countries, which are projected to record a drop in death rates of 7% this year. The findings were published in the journal Annals of Oncology ..read more

New drug combination shrunk tumours significantly in 46% of patients with treatment-resistant form of disease Thousands of women with ovarian cancer could benefit from a revolutionary drug combination after it was shown to shrink tumours in half of patients with an advanced form of the disease. The pair of drugs – which work together to block the signals cancer cells need to grow – could offer a new treatment option for women with a type of ovarian cancer that rarely responds to chemotherapy or hormone therapy ..read more

Research reveals screening picks up 39% more cancers at early stage but this does not result in fewer deaths Annual screening for ovarian cancer can detect tumours earlier but does not save lives, one of the largest studies ever conducted on the general population suggests. Although the finding is a blow to those affected by ovarian cancer, the hope is that earlier diagnosis could reduce the amount and intensity of treatment that women go through ..read more

Big improvement in past two decades fails to close gap with likes of Australia and Canada Cancer survival rates in the UK have improved markedly over recent decades but still lag behind those of comparable countries, a major research exercise has shown. The study looked at one-year and five-year survival of cancer patients in Australia, Canada, Denmark, Ireland, New Zealand, Norway and the UK between 1995 and 2014. It found that while the chances of surviving cancer have improved in the UK, they have not caught up with other countries, which are also doing better thanks to new technologies an ..read more