Researchers from Queen Mary University of London (QMUL) have developed and validated ‘Ovatools’, a new clinical tool that could help GPs detect ovarian cancer earlier and improve outcomes cost-effectively.
Ovatools combines results from a standard CA125 blood test with a woman’s age to provide a personalised risk score for ovarian cancer. Using data from over 340,000 women across England, two linked studies – funded by Cancer Research UK (CRUK) and the NIHR School for Primary Care Research (SPCR) – showed that:
-
Ovatools improves ovarian cancer detection in women aged over 50, helping GPs to identify those at higher risk for urgent referral and specialist assessment.
-
Adopting Ovatools for women over 50 would be cost-effective, enabling earlier diagnosis while remaining within the affordability threshold set by NICE.
Professor Christian Mallen, Director, NIHR School for Primary Care Research said: "Ovarian cancer can be challenging to diagnose, making this new research particularly important. Risk stratification will help to better inform patients and clinicians, allowing decisions to be made on the basis of the best possible evidence. This research, funded by Cancer Research UK and The NIHR School for Primary Care Research, will allow women to get the care they need earlier which is an essential step in improving outcomes."
Ovarian cancer is the sixth most common cause of cancer death in women in the UK, with many cases diagnosed only at advanced stages. Current practice uses a fixed CA125 threshold, missing some early cancers. By incorporating age, Ovatools more accurately identifies women at highest risk.
Paper details:
-
Garth Funston, et al. “CA125 and age-based models for ovarian cancer detection in primary care: a population-based external validation study.”
-
Runguo Wu, et al. “Cost-effectiveness of CA125- and age-informed risk-based triage for ovarian cancer detection in primary care.”
Funding:
-
NIHR School for Primary Care Research (FR5_629), Garth Funston SPCR FR13 award holder.
-
Cancer Research UK & NIHR Policy Research Unit in Cancer Awareness, Screening and Early Diagnosis (QMUL, 2019-2024)
-
Prof Emma Crosbie – NIHR Advanced Fellowship & NIHR Manchester Biomedical Research Centre