
Around 1 in 5 people diagnosed with cancer in the UK take part in a clinical trial.
This study looked at borderline ovarian tumours and how to improve management.
It was open for people to join between 2010 and 2017. The team looked at the results in 2022.
Borderline ovarian tumours are not cancers. They are abnormal cells that may become cancer. They develop in the ovary but don’t go into the surrounding tissue and rarely spread.
In this study doctors gathered clinical information, tissue samples and data from follow up visits over many years.
They hoped to predict likely disease outcome (prognosis) for individual women. They wanted to find out if this information could help them to work out what the best management was for an individual.
So in future doctors can have management plans to better suit individual women. They also wanted to develop ways to prevent the disease progression, or to treat it better.
The team found that some factors had a strong influence on whether these tumours came back.
Study design
The average age of the women taking part was 60 years of age. The team looked at:
They also looked at the samples of tissue from when the women had surgery to remove their tumour.
Results
They found that the tumour was more likely to come back if:
They also found that the levels of CA-125 in the blood started to increase in everyone whose cancer came back.
They say that this study highlights the importance of follow up. In particular the importance of checking the levels of CA-125.
Where this information comes from
We have based this summary on the information from the study team. We have not analysed the data ourselves.
Please note: In order to join a trial you will need to discuss it with your doctor, unless otherwise specified.
Professor Mona El-Bahrawy
Experimental Cancer Medicine Centre (ECMC)
Imperial College London
Freephone 0808 800 4040
Around 1 in 5 people diagnosed with cancer in the UK take part in a clinical trial.