$20m push for ovarian cancer test

AN early detection test for ovarian cancer would save the lives of more than 8000 Australian women in the next decade, but research funding has fallen behind other diseases.

A landmark report into the state of ovarian cancer in Australia has revealed an urgent need to boost research investment by $20 million a year.

More than 1800 Australian women will be diagnosed with ovarian cancer this year but, because there is no early detection test, only 830 of them will be alive in five years.

Ovarian Cancer Research Foundation chief executive Lucinda Nolan said ovarian disease, unlike the majority of breast, uterine and cervical cancers, was only diagnosed after it had spread and was in its later stages.

“While ovarian cancer has been left behind in the past 45 years of modern cancer research, with a similar focus and funding uplift it can be the success story of the next generation,” Ms Nolan said. “We all have a responsibility to keep fighting to save lives.”

Only 46 per cent of women diagnosed with ovarian cancer survive beyond five years, compared to 91 per cent of those with breast cancer, 83 per cent for uterine cancer and 71 per cent for cervical cancer.

The State of the Nation in Ovarian Cancer: Research Audit is intended to push governments for an overhaul of research funding for the disease, after finding it had fallen critically behind other areas.

The report says only 7 per cent of ovarian cancer research dollars are directed towards a detection test, even though survival rates could be lifted to 90 per cent for future generations if novel diagnosis technologies are discovered.