14 DAY TRIAL // In a finding that goes against everything doctors held sacred about cancer, a team of experts managed to discover that survival rate for ovarian cancer patients did not improve for women in whom the disease was detect early.
The team says that survival rates for this particular form of cancer are the same, regardless of when the condition is discovered by patients or doctors.
If a screening test manages to identify the cancer, then early chemotherapy can be applied so that the disease does not develop further. Or at least this is what experts thought until now.
But the investigation found literally no difference in survival rates between those who got the early screening and treatment, and women who began chemotherapy only after symptoms became apparent.
“The absolute benefit of that close surveillance has not been tested before, which is why this is a landmark paper,” explains expert Dr. Bradley Monk, who was not a part of the study team.
He is a gynecologic oncologist at the Creighton University School of Medicine, in Arizona. The expert explains that this type of research is important because ovarian cancer is the fifth leading cause of death among women in the United States.
Scientists at the Johns Hopkins University say that 9 in 10 women suffering from this form of cancer will experience a relapse at some point in time.
Keeping an eye on these relapses early on is currently possible by analyzing levels of a protein called CA125, which is produced in copious amounts by ovarian cancer cells.
Oncologists say that protein levels can soar months before external symptoms become apparent, and the relapse is confirmed, MyHealthNewsDaily reports.
Scientists behind the new work say that the main conclusion women should take home from this investigation is not to avoid screening themselves on time, but rather the knowledge that they can time their chemotherapy scheduled, if needed.
“You just have to ask yourself, 'If you had an advanced ovarian cancer, would you like to know if it's growing out of control, or not'?” Monk adds.
Details of the new investigation appear in the September 30 issue of the esteemed journal The Lancet.