5m women think smear test spots ovarian cancer

MILLIONS of women wrongly believe smear tests can detect ovarian cancer, experts have warned.

Health charities believe this fundamental misunderstanding is putting lives at risk.

They have warned that many women ignore symptoms until it is too late – mistakenly believing that the screening programme for cervical cancer will pick up all gynaecological cancers.

This confusion means some women assume they are ‘protected’ against ovarian cancer and write off symptoms when they experience them.

Polling by the Target Ovarian Cancer charity reveals 22 per cent of women – five million across the UK – think smear tests will pick up ovarian cancer.

Regular smear tests are offered to all women between the ages of 25 and 64 to detect the early signs of cervical cancer – but they do not spot any other cancers. There is no screening programme for ovarian cancer, because no reliable test exists.

Yet the disease, which is known as the ‘silent killer’, has few obvious symptoms – so it is often diagnosed at a very late stage. Roughly 60 per cent of cases are diagnosed when the cancer has already spread around the body, making it very difficult to treat.

Some 7,270 women are diagnosed with ovarian cancer each year – and 4,230 die each year as a result. A major problem is that the symptoms are often mistaken for mild complaints.

Warning signs include bloating, feeling full, tummy pain and frequently needing to go to the toilet. Annwen Jones, chief executive of Target Ovarian Cancer, said: ‘We need to combat the confusion around ovarian cancer and cervical screening.

‘While we welcome Government investment in raising awareness of the cervical screening programme, the ovarian cancer community is painfully aware that 11 women die every day from ovarian cancer and we urgently need to see a national ovarian cancer symptoms awareness campaign.’

Ministers have vowed to end ‘ trans- discrimination’ in NHS screening programmes.

Currently, women who identify as men are not invited for cervical or breast screening, but men who identify as women are asked to attend both programmes.

Public health minister Steve Brine told MPs he was ‘damn well determined’ that trans patients born as women would not be excluded from screening.