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OBJECTIVE: Symptom-triggered testing for ovarian cancer was introduced to the UK whereby symptomatic women undergo an ultrasound scan and serum CA125, and are referred to hospital within 2 weeks if these are abnormal. The potential value of symptom-triggered testing in the detection of early-stage disease or low tumor burden remains unclear in women with high grade serous ovarian cancer. In this descriptive study, we report on the International Federation of Gynecology and Obstetrics (FIGO) stage, disease distribution, and complete cytoreduction rates in women presenting via the fast-track pathway and who were diagnosed with high grade serous ovarian cancer. METHODS: We analyzed the dataset from Refining Ovarian Cancer Test accuracy Scores (ROCkeTS), a single-arm prospective diagnostic test accuracy study recruiting from 24 hospitals in the UK. The aim of ROCkeTS is to validate risk prediction models in symptomatic women. We undertook an opportunistic analysis for women recruited between June 2015 to July 2022 and who were diagnosed with high grade serous ovarian cancer via the fast-track pathway. Women presenting with symptoms suspicious for ovarian cancer receive a CA125 blood test and an ultrasound scan if the CA125 level is abnormal. If either of these is abnormal, women are referred to secondary care within 2 weeks. Histology details were available on all women who underwent surgery or biopsy within 3 months of recruitment. Women who did not undergo surgery or biopsy at 3 months were followed up for 12 months as per the national guidelines in the UK. In this descriptive study, we report on patient demographics (age and menopausal status), WHO performance status, FIGO stage at diagnosis, disease distribution (low/pelvic confined, moderate/extending to mid-abdomen, high/extending to upper abdomen) and complete cytoreduction rates in women who underwent surgery. RESULTS: Of 1741 participants recruited via the fast-track pathway, 119 (6.8%) were diagnosed with high grade serous ovarian cancer. The median age was 63 years (range 32-89). Of these, 112 (94.1%) patients had a performance status of 0 and 1, 30 (25.2%) were diagnosed with stages I/II, and the disease distribution was low-to-moderate in 77 (64.7%). Complete and optimal cytoreduction were achieved in 73 (61.3%) and 18 (15.1%). The extent of disease was low in 43 of 119 (36.1%), moderate in 34 of 119 (28.6%), high in 32 of 119 (26.9%), and not available in 10 of 119 (8.4%). Nearly two thirds, that is 78 of 119 (65.5%) women with high grade serous ovarian cancer, underwent primary debulking surgery, 36 of 119 (30.3%) received neoadjuvant chemotherapy followed by interval debulking surgery, and 5 of 119 (4.2%) women did not undergo surgery. CONCLUSION: Our results demonstrate that one in four women identified with high grade serous ovarian cancer through the fast-track pathway following symptom-triggered testing was diagnosed with early-stage disease. Symptom-triggered testing may help identify women with a low disease burden, potentially contributing to high complete cytoreduction rates.
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BACKGROUND: Sarcopenia represents an index of frailty amongst cancer patients and it is associated with poor oncological outcomes and a higher risk of surgical complications in several types of malignancy. AIM: To further delineate the impact of sarcopenia assessed via computed tomography scan (CT) on oncological outcomes and post-operative complications amongst women with epithelial ovarian carcinoma (EOC). Our secondary objective was to quantify and understand the prevalence of sarcopenia in EOC. DESIGN: We systematically searched MEDLINE, SCOPUS, ClinicalTrials.gov, and Cochrane Database, from inception up to August 2021. Quality assessment was performed using the Newcastle-Ottawa scale (NOS). Outcomes consisted of prevalence, overall survival (OS), progression-free survival (PFS) and post-operative complications. Pooled analyses of proportion estimates, hazard ratios (HRs) and odds ratios (ORs) were performed with STATA and Review Manager 5.3. RESULTS: 21 studies were included in this meta-analysis. NOS scores ranged from six to nine. Pooled analysis yielded an overall sarcopenia prevalence of 41%. Pooled analysis of adjusted HRs demonstrated significant association between low muscle attenuation (MA) [aHR = 1.23, (95% CI 1.02-1.47), p-value = 0.03] and OS, whilst low skeletal muscle index (SMI) trended towards shorter OS [aHR = 1.37, (95% CI 0.99-1.90), p-value = 0.05. Low-SMI was also associated with higher risk of total post-operative complications [uOR = 1.56, (95% CI 1.16-2.11), p-value = 0.004]. CONCLUSION: Our findings suggest that CT-assessed skeletal mass and radiodensity represent rather accurate indices of nutritional status and could prospectively be incorporated into the decision-making process in women with EOC.