A woman's chances of surviving ovarian cancer at least five years after diagnosis come down to the toss of a coin: just 49% will reach that milestone, making it one of the most lethal reproductive cancers worldwide.
One of the reasons for the high mortality rate is late-stage diagnosis and delayed treatment due to nonspecific symptoms that are often missed by healthcare professionals and women themselves.
University of South Australia postdoctoral researcher, Dr Amanda Lumsden, with a transdisciplinary team, is hoping to rectify this by co-designing a user-friendly symptom assessment tool for ovarian cancer, thanks to a $45,087 Catalyst grant from Health Translation SA (HTSA).
Via an online ovarian cancer symptom scoping survey, researchers will gather feedback from people with lived experience of ovarian cancer (as well as clinicians) to help develop a prototype symptom assessment tool. The tool will detail potential symptoms and risk factors for ovarian cancer and will lay the groundwork for a larger study to test how well the prototype performs.
Dr Lumsden, a Research Fellow based in UniSA's Australian Centre for Precision Health, says that unlike mammograms and cervical screening tests that help detect breast and cervical cancer at an early stage, there are no public screening programs for picking up ovarian cancer early.
"Women with ovarian cancer may experience nonspecific symptoms for up to two or more years before the tumour becomes clinically apparent, and often do not connect these symptoms with cancer," Dr Lumsden says. "By then, the tumour has usually progressed to an advanced stage."
"Abdominal issues, including bloating, pain and loss of appetite are red flags. If there is a family history of ovarian cancer, this should also be considered. Some other factors are linked to lower risk, such as having children, and having ever used oral contraceptives.
"We are hoping to identify common symptoms, patterns and themes experienced by people who have experienced an ovarian cancer diagnosis and use these findings to inform the development of the tool."
"This is a very exciting avenue of research, and an important first step in a larger program of work," says Professor Elina Hyppönen, who leads the group. If we can find a way to identify high risk women at an earlier stage, this can increase the available treatment options, and hopefully help to ensure better treatment outcomes."
The online ovarian cancer symptom scoping survey is open until 20 June. Take the survey here:
https://unisasurveys.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_3KuR3ohn99UX48K
