Screening to improve ovarian cancer prognosis?

Abstract

Despite increasingly radical surgical approaches and the huge efforts put into new and targeted therapeutic agents, prognosis for patients with ovarian cancer has hardly improved in the past three decades. 1 Vaughan S Coward JI Bast Jr, RC et al. Rethinking ovarian cancer: recommendations for improving outcomes. Nat Rev Cancer. 2011; 11: 719-725 Crossref PubMed Scopus (933) Google Scholar Besides aiming to revolutionise treatment further, efforts need to focus on early detection of disease. In The Lancet, Ian Jacobs and colleagues 2 Jacobs IJ Menon U Ryan A et al. Ovarian cancer screening and mortality in the UK Collaborative Trial of Ovarian Cancer Screening (UKCTOCS): a randomised controlled trial. Lancet. 2015; (published online Dec 17.)http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/S0140-6736(15)01224-6 Google Scholar report the results of the UK Collaborative Trial of Ovarian Cancer Screening (UKCTOCS), which has assessed whether screening improves diagnosis and prognosis of ovarian cancer. Iran: promises and prospects for healthFeb 26 marked a landmark election for Iranian Parliament and the top clerical body, the Assembly of Experts, coming only weeks after the historic lifting of sanctions. Health will continue to be important under President Rouhani's Government who launched the national health transformation plan in May, 2014, in an effort to address the 52% out-of-pocket payments for health care. Last week, The Lancet was welcomed to Kish Island, Iran, to review progress in health research and to attend a collaborative research meeting led by University College London and Tehran University of Medical Sciences. Full-Text PDF Ovarian cancer screening and mortality in the UK Collaborative Trial of Ovarian Cancer Screening (UKCTOCS): a randomised controlled trialAlthough the mortality reduction was not significant in the primary analysis, we noted a significant mortality reduction with MMS when prevalent cases were excluded. We noted encouraging evidence of a mortality reduction in years 7–14, but further follow-up is needed before firm conclusions can be reached on the efficacy and cost-effectiveness of ovarian cancer screening. Full-Text PDF Open Access