Publications by authors named "R Woolas"
The 28-days-to-diagnosis pathway is the current expected standard of care for women with symptoms of ovarian cancer in the UK. However, the anticipated conversion rate of symptoms to cancer is only 3%, and use of the pathway is increasing. A rapid triage at the moment of receipt of the referral might allow resources to be allocated more appropriately.
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- The UKCTOCS study aimed to explore the symptoms of preclinical invasive epithelial ovarian cancer (iEOC) in women, particularly by comparing symptoms between those diagnosed through screening (PC) and those diagnosed clinically (CD).
- Out of 1133 women diagnosed with iEOC, those in the PC group were younger at diagnosis and reported fewer symptoms overall compared to the CD group, although abdominal symptoms were common in both groups.
- The research suggests that early signs of tubo-ovarian cancer might be more complex than previously thought, highlighting the need to reassess what symptoms should trigger medical evaluation for better early detection.
Background: In UKCTOCS, there was a decrease in the diagnosis of advanced stage tubo-ovarian cancer but no reduction in deaths in the multimodal screening group compared with the no screening group. Therefore, we did exploratory analyses of patients with high-grade serous ovarian cancer to understand the reason for the discrepancy.
Methods: UKCTOCS was a 13-centre randomised controlled trial of screening postmenopausal women from the general population, aged 50-74 years, with intact ovaries.
Objective: To investigate the association between hysterectomy with conservation of one or both adnexa and ovarian and tubal cancer.
Design: Prospective cohort study.
Setting: Thirteen NHS Trusts in England, Wales and Northern Ireland.
Article Synopsis
- Ovarian cancer remains a serious health issue, particularly for postmenopausal women; the UKCTOCS trial was initiated to evaluate if screening could lower mortality rates associated with the disease.
- The study involved over 202,000 postmenopausal women who were randomly assigned to one of three groups: multimodal screening, transvaginal ultrasound screening, or no screening, and data was collected over a median follow-up period of 16.3 years.
- Results showed that the detection rates of ovarian and tubal cancer were similar across all groups, indicating that neither type of screening significantly impacted the mortality from these cancers.