Ovarian cancer prognosis in women with endometriosis. A retrospective nationwide cohort study of 32,419 women. https://tinyurl.com/y376m5jz            Endometriosis is associated with ovarian cancer; the risk of developing ovarian cancer is put at between 5 and 10%. Often the cancer is of the subtypes endometrioid or clear cell cancer. These cancers present earlier and are commonly unilateral.          It was thought that women who develop ovarian cancer having previously been diagnosed with endometriosis had better survival rates. This study of the Dutch cancer population revealed 32,000 case of ovarian cancer, 6% had suffered from endometriosis prior to diagnosis.          Those women who had been endometriosis patients were younger and had more easily resected cancer on presentation. Even after allowing for the bias due to the more easily treated...

Attitudes towards risk ‐ reducing early salpingectomy with delayed oophorectomy for ovarian cancer prevention: a cohort study https://tinyurl.com/yyk5q4k4            Risk reduction surgery is being offered more often to reduce the risk of developing ovarian cancer for women who have a genetic predisposition. The level of risk had been set at 10%, meaning that one in ten women would develop ovarian cancer before the age of 60, now women with only a 5% risk are being encouraged to consider surgery.          Traditionally the operation performed was bilateral resection of ovaries and fallopian tubes. Because of the loss of fertility and premature menopause there has been a move to a two-stage procedure with initial tube resection and delayed removal of the ovaries.          This study looked at 683 women all of whom had an increased genetic risk of ova...

Detection of TP53 Clonal Variants in Papanicolaou Test Samples Collected up to 6 Years Prior to High-Grade Serous Epithelial Ovarian Cancer Diagnosis https://tinyurl.com/y2oddycf             The cervical or Pap smear was first described in 1928; the ability to detect pre-cancerous change revolutionized the management of cervical cancer preventing millions of deaths. Now DNA testing of Pap smear cells is being promoted as an aid to early diagnosis for ovarian cancer.          High Grade Serous Ovarian Cancer (HGSOC) is highly lethal, especially because it presents late.  Most HGSOC develops first in the Fallopian tube. A DNA sequence; TP53 clone is a marker for cancer and the precursor.          This small study of 17 women with HGSOC looked at Pap smears obtained on presentation and in the years prior to diagnosis. 64% (11) of these patien...

    Economic Evaluation of Population-Based BRCA1/BRCA2 Mutation Testing across Multiple Countries and Health Systems https://tinyurl.com/y3xjl36s            This recent paper, an analysis of the economic value of BRCA genetic screening of the whole population used the Quality Adjusted Life Year (QALY) as a measure of cost. The QALY measures what price is reasonable for an extra year of life without disease. The amount is indeterminate and varies in different countries.          Society values a QALY less than an individual; Drug companies when promoting their product usually apply a QALY of about $45,000. Non-commercial health interventions may have two QALYs; the social value at about $20,000, the individual payer $25,000.          The study used the non-commercial criteria and found that in advanced economies the result from whole of po...

Trans social worker promotes gender awareness during virtual cancer care conference in St. John's https://tinyurl.com/y6bxcw4f          It is important for health care providers to understand the special challenges faced by trans patients who develop ovarian cancer. As with all patients there are individual requirements with regard to privacy and respect.          Fortunately there has been great improvement in appreciation of the special needs for these patients, who often have stressful interactions with health care, resulting from their gender dysphoria.          This article describes the experience of a trans man ovarian cancer patient and his coping strategies and tactics, with a link to his blog site. https://tinyurl.com/y6g4xqbh

Ovarian Cancer and Body Size https://tinyurl.com/y4nfatfg          This review looked at body size and height of women compared to their risk of ovarian cancer. All available literature was examined with more than 25,000 women who had ovarian cancer compared to more than 81,000 women who did not.          The risk of developing ovarian cancer increased significantly with height and body mass index (BMI) changes. The elevated relative risk was 1.07 for each 5cm increase in height above 160cm.          The effect of a rise in BMI was different for women who had previously had hormone replacement therapy (HRT) compared to those who had not. For women who had not had HRT,    the increased risk of ovarian cancer for every 5kg/m² above normal in BMI, was 1.10. Those women who had previously had HRT showed no change in risk of ovaria...

Menopausal hormone therapy prior to the diagnosis of ovarian cancer is associated with improved survival https://tinyurl.com/y945wwo6          This multi-centric study from Europe, North America and Australasia looked at more than 6000 women who had been diagnosed with ovarian cancer. The use of hormone replacement therapy prior to diagnosis and the survival were measured.          The type of hormone therapy; whether oestrogen only or combined oestrogen/progesterone was recorded. The duration of the hormone replacement was also available.          The results show that taking both oestrogen only or combined therapy, for 5 years or more before diagnosis, improved survival by 20%.