Insight Magazine (UK) Spring 2011 edition

Target Ovarian Cancer Calls On DOH To Launch National Symptom Awareness Campaign As New NICE Guidance Stresses Importance Of Early Diagnosis, UK

Note: media story regarding new NICE guidelines for ovarian cancer

Abstract: Which staging system to use for gynaecological cancers: a survey with recommendations for practice in the UK

Aims
There are two commonly used staging systems for gynaecological cancers, namely Federation Internationale de Gynecologie et d'Obstetrique (FIGO) and TNM. The authors wished to ascertain which staging system is most commonly used in dealing with gynaecological cancers in the UK.
Methods
The authors undertook a survey among participants in the National Gynaecological Pathology EQA scheme to investigate whether gynaecological pathologists in the UK use FIGO or TNM staging in their routine reporting of gynaecological cancers.
Results
There were 105 respondents out of 278 participants (38%). Of the analysed results, a majority of respondents (64%) use FIGO staging, while 32% use both FIGO and TNM. 80% of respondents stated that their multidisciplinary team meeting uses FIGO staging, while 18% use both FIGO and TNM. Only an extremely small minority of pathologists and multidisciplinary team meetings use TNM alone. A survey of members of the British Gynaecological Cancer Society revealed similar findings.
Conclusions
Since FIGO and TNM are not always equivalent, and there may be confusion when more than one staging system is used, it is recommended that FIGO staging be used for gynaecological cancers. The survey revealed support for the use of TNM, as well as FIGO, only for cervical cancer, since FIGO does not take the lymph node status into account. Given the prevalent practice in the UK, the British Association of Gynaecological Pathologists, British Gynaecological Cancer Society and gynaecological clinical reference group of the National Cancer Intelligence Network recommend that FIGO staging be used for gynaecological cancers with recording of the lymph node status for cervical cancer. This may be done by providing a TNM stage for this cancer type only or by recording the lymph-node status at the multidisciplinary team meeting.

E-Health Insider :: Government to scrap Audit Commission UK

"It is less clear where its medication and patient safety work will go, since the government has already announced that it will be scrapping the National Patient Safety Agency as part of its bid to reduce the number of arms length bodies in the health service."

UK - Cancer research centre launched - Herald Scotland | News | Health

"A new centre which is set to become one of the UK’s leading research facilities on ovarian, bowel and breast cancer opens in Edinburgh today.

The Edinburgh Cancer Research UK Centre is part of a country-wide network of centres that are run under the auspices of Cancer Research UK.

Their aim is to prevent duplication of research and bring together world class laboratory researchers with doctors to provide the best possible results for cancer patients in the future.

Edinburgh is known for its globally renowned research on genetics and the biology of cancer. The centre aims to become a world centre for developing treatments tailor-made for individual patients.

Researchers will also look at the problem of cancer cells spreading, and developing drug resistance.

David Cameron, professor of oncology and head of NHS Lothian Cancer Services, is the clinical director of the new centre. He said: “This is a very exciting development for cancer patients and for research in Scotland......"

Regulator to reject ovarian cancer treatment approve Trabectedin (Yondelis)

18th June 2010 - The health regulator, "The National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE), says a new treatment for ovarian cancer is not recommended for the NHS because the manufacturer did not submit sufficient evidence that the medication benefits patients more than the most widely-used treatments.

NICE is appraising trabectedin (Yondelis) in combination with pegylated liposomal doxorubicin (PLDH) for the treatment of relapsed ovarian cancer that is sensitive to platinum-based therapies.

Its independent advisory found that the evidence submitted by the manufacturer was not robust because it did not compare trabectedin against a current ‘gold-standard’ treatment for relapsed ovarian cancer: paclitaxel in combination with platinum-based chemotherapy. This meant NICE couldn’t confirm whether or not the treatment extends patients’ lives for longer than one of the more effective and commonly-used treatments...."

OvPlex ovarian cancer screening now available in the UK

OvPlex website: OvPlex™ targets symptomatic women and has been designed as a simple blood test for earlier diagnosis of ovarian cancer and is statistically significantly better than CA125 alone (the current standard blood test) in the detection of ovarian cancer. OvPlex™ outperforms CA125 for the detection of ovarian cancer in all stages of the disease - particularly, early stage. As mentioned, if a woman is diagnosed with ovarian cancer at an early stage of the disease, five year survival rates are greatly increased.