Big improvement in ovarian cancer survival rates

The survival rate for early ovarian cancer has nearly doubled in 30 years, new figures show.

The five-year survival rate has increased from 21% in the early 1970s to 41% today; but survival falls to 20% for women diagnosed with Stage III ovarian cancer, and less than 6% for those diagnosed with Stage IV of the disease.

Dr James Brenton, based at Cancer Research UK’s Cambridge Research Institute and an ovarian cancer clinician at Addenbrooke’s hospital, said: “These latest figures show improvements in treatment, such as centralisation of ovarian cancer surgery and uniform access to chemotherapy, are making a difference in helping more women survive ovarian cancer, particularly those who are diagnosed earlier. But we face a real challenge in translating these improvements in survival to women whose ovarian cancer has already spread.”

The figures are based on data from the East of England Cancer Registry.

Cancer Research UK, which released the statistics, is helping to fund a trial of ovarian cancer screening involving more than 200,000 women, to see whether ultrasound scanning and a blood test can save lives.

Final findings are expected in 2015.