A retrospective study of  Pipelle  endometrial biopsy for ovarian, fallopian tube, and peritoneal cancers https://tinyurl.com/3jc3my57 Although well  established  in the diagnosis of endometrial cancer, the  value  of endometrial biopsy for ovarian and fallopian  tube cancer  is not well understood. Much ovarian cancer starts in the fallopian tube, it has been su ggeste d that end ometrial biopsy could be a low-invasive means to obtain a tissue diagnosis. This retrospective study reviewed  biopsies  obtained from   99  women who had endometrial bi o psy as part of their workup for ovarian cancer.  Findings from the review showed that the biopsy had a low s pecificity , with high false negative results  for early-stage ovarian cancer but  the sensitivity for a positive test was  acceptable at   44%  for  late-stage disease. T he tissue type found at biopsy  was confirmed in the resected ov...

Pelvic inflammatory disease and risk of epithelial ovarian cancer: a national population-based case-control study in Sweden https://tinyurl.com/2mk66bpe On ce again, the large data base of clinical information in Sweden gives further insight into the epidemiology of ovarian  cancer. This study compares the risk of developing ovarian cancer after  previous  pelvic inflammatory disease .  (PID)  It is becoming increasingly obvious that infection is  an important  cause  for much cancer. The retrospective  review  compared the incidence of  PID  in 1000 women who developed ovarian cancer with   10000  women who did not  have cancer . P ID  may occur as salpingitis  possibly sexually transmitted , be associated with  endometriosis, urinary tract infection or inflammatory bowel disease. Results from the study showed that wo m en with  a past history  of  PID were 39% more likely to develo...

Prevalence of active cytomegalovirus infection at diagnosis of ovarian cancer and during chemotherapy and  subsequent  changes in cognitive functioning https://tinyurl.com/yc5mfuf9 Cytomegalovirus (CMV) is a herpes type virus found in 50% of the  population.  It lies dormant after  initial  infection and can recur causing various symptoms which include fatigue and decreased cognitive function. This prospective study looked at the CMV status of 89 women with ovarian cancer and reviewed their cognitive function before and following chemotherapy. At the time of  initial  presentation 30% of the women had blood levels of antibodies suggested active CMV infection. This increased to 60% following chemo. The infection rate reverted to 30% once chemo was ceased.  Those women with active CMV disease at the onset had significantly worse cognitive function than the uninfected. The authors suggest that “brain fog”, which is a complication of chemo for ov...

Causality and functional relevance of BRCA1 and BRCA2 pathogenic variants in non-high-grade serous ovarian carcinomas https://tinyurl.com/e5859f7b With increased availability  more and more  patients with ovarian cancer have genetic screening with the BRCA variants being the primary target. Is this a suitable use of resources? This paper; a prospective review of almost 1000 ovarian cancer cases looked at the incidence of BRCA variants for patients who had the commonest type being high-grade serous ovarian cancer versus the less common non- high-grade  types. BRCA variants were found in 13% of the high-grade cancers and 3% of the non-high-grade cancers. Further review showed that some of the less common cancers had incorrect pathology, the others had faulty BRCA genotyping or that the variation was only partial with incomplete penetration. The authors suggest that BRCA genotyping for non-high-grade serousovarian cancer has no value

Association between wine consumption and cancer: a systematic review and meta-analysis https://tinyurl.com/2jaz8hu6      High alcohol consumption has been shown to be associated with an increased risk for many cancers including breast and ovarian cancer. However, it has been suggested that low to moderate wine consumption (less than 2 glasses of wine daily for women) may be protective.      This review; a meta-analysis of all the available data looked at 454 reports which conformed with the criteria for inclusion. The relative risk of developing breast or ovarian cancer for moderate drinkers was the same as the normal population (RR 1.03).     Moderate drinking is protective against gastric cancer. The authors suggest this may be due to antibacterial activity of alcohol against H. Pylori. Low to moderate consumption of alcohol does not increase ovarian cancer risk.

Proteogenomic analysis of chemo-refractory high-grade serous ovarian cancer https://tinyurl.com/2p9bdrwk One of the many problems with ovarian cancer is that many women (about 15%) do not respond to standard therapy. These women are termed as platinum resistant, have a recurrence before six months after  initial  treatment, with  very poor  outcomes. This study looks at  identifying  those women so that alternative personalised treatment might be considered. It is a retrospective review of pretreatment biopsy obtained from 242 women with high grade ovarian cancer. Of them, 97 were platinum resistant. Using proteogenomic analysis, which combines information from whole of genome sequencing and spectroscopic data about protein and RNA transcription, different subgroups were  identified .  In particular a  protein signature common to all the platinum resistant cancers may  assist  in early diagnosis. As of now there is no alternative ef...

Risks of non-ovarian cancers in women with borderline ovarian  tumour : a national cohort study in Sweden https://tinyurl.com/uchdbbnk One of the great advantages of medical research from Scandinavia is the quality of the epidemiology data. This paper is an example of the large numbers of the sample group which can be obtained from the Swedish Cancer Registry. Almost 5000 women were diagnosed to have a borderline ovarian tumour during the period 1995-2018. Follow up of those women showed an increased risk of non-ovarian cancer when compared to the general population. The types of cancer included bowel, uterine, renal, lung,  thyroid  and pancreas. There was no association shown with breast cancer or leukaemia. The authors  speculate  that the presence of a borderline tumour may be a marker for increased cancer risk  possibly due  to a shared cause or predisposition.