NHS cancer test could spare agony of ovarian surgery for thousands

‘Offers women peace of mind’

THOUSANDS of women at risk of ovarian cancer could be spared lifechanging surgery thanks to a new NHS testing regime.

Doctors are trialling a new ‘ cancer surveillance’ programme which can delay drastic operations for women with a faulty gene.

The BRCA gene mutation – carried by Angelina Jolie – significantly raises the risk of developing ovarian cancer and breast cancer later in life. At present women are offered an operation to remove their ovaries and fallopian tubes if they carry the BRCA mutation, to cut their cancer risk.

But the NHS is now piloting a new ‘watch and wait’ approach which instead involves taking a blood test every four months. They hope this will allow women to avoid surgery for as long as possible – giving them the chance to have children – while enabling doctors to operate as soon as the blood test shows signs of cancer appearing.

The trial, run by University College London Hospitals in North London, aims to test the feasibility of the approach on 2,000 women over 35 who carry the BRCA mutation.

Adam Rosenthal, consultant gynaecologist at UCLH, said: ‘The surveillance should mean women with a faulty BRCA gene are less likely to be diagnosed with an advanced ovarian cancer.’

Roughly one in 400 women have a faulty BRCA gene, which means a 70 per cent chance of developing breast cancer, up from 12 per cent for other women, and 44 per cent chance of ovarian cancer, up from 2 per cent.

Miss Jolie, 43, chose to have her breasts, ovaries and fallopian tubes removed to reduce her cancer risk, after her mother died of ovarian cancer aged just 56.

About half of women in Britain who find out they are car- rying the mutation choose to have surgery – with about 4,000 a year having their ovaries removed.

The new approach relies on the ROCA blood test, which assesses changes in the level of the blood chemical CA125, which typically rises with ovarian cancer.

The NHS has already taken a similar approach to avoid breast surgery, by offering women with the BRCA mutation annual mammograms from the age of 30.

Athena Lamnisos, chief executive of the eve Appeal cancer charity, said: ‘This programme offers women some peace of mind and the ability to make difficult decisions about surgery in the time that suits them, their lives and their health.’