Ovarian cancer: Setback as major screening trial fails to save lives

A major trial to detect one of the most elusive and deadly cancers - ovarian - has failed to save lives, after two decades of work.

The researchers, at University College London, said the results were a disappointment - and thanked the 200,000 people who participated.

The trial had looked promising, with annual blood tests detecting cases of ovarian cancer earlier. But routine screening for the cancer is now a distant prospect.

Ovarian cancer is tricky to diagnose because the symptoms are easily mistaken for less serious health problems.

"Some women are diagnosed so late they are too sick to start treatment," the trial's lead investigator, Prof Usha Menon, said.

The UK Collaborative Trial of Ovarian Cancer Screening - the largest in the world - tracked levels of CA125, a chemical released by ovarian tumours, in the blood and sent participants in whom they were rising for an ultrasound scan.

Unfortunately the final results, published in the Lancet medical journal, showed the screening had failed to save lives.

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Source: BBC News, 12 May 2021