A £2 million study is using an advanced test at GP surgeries in the West Midlands to diagnose early-stage ovarian cancer and potentially save thousands of lives a year.
Sandwell and West Birmingham NHS Trust and Walsall Healthcare NHS Trust have paired up with the University of Birmingham and primary care provider Modality to offer a blood test to patients experiencing symptoms of the disease such as bloating or stomach pain.
While patients with persistent or severe symptoms are already offered an existing blood test (CA-125), the new ROMA test used during the trial will identify key markers of the disease at an earlier stage.
The SONATA (tranSforming Ovarian caNcer diAgnostic paThwAys) study is being led by University Professor Sudha Sundar. Researchers will analyse whether the ROMA test has a higher chance of detecting ovarian cancer than the current CA-125 test and whether it would be cost effective to introduce across the NHS.