Urgent warning to thousands of women missing out on life-saving cancer checks – are you at risk?
THOUSANDS of women missing out on vital tests are at greater risk of cancer, a charity has warned.
Patients diagnosed with breast or ovarian cancer are eligible for free genetic screening – as are their families.
The tests are designed to pick up the so-called “Angelina Jolie” BRCA gene.
But a new survey of 142 women with ovarian cancer by charity Ovacome found over one in five (21 per cent) are not getting checked for cancer-causing errors in their BRCA1 and BRCA2 genes.
The mutations leave women up to 22-times more likely to develop ovarian cancer and six-times more likely to develop breast cancer.
This could mean “potentially thousands” of women and their family members are missing out on the vital checks, the charity has warned.
Around 7,500 women in the UK are diagnosed with ovarian cancer every year and there are 4,000 annual deaths.
Victoria Clare, CEO of Ovacome, said these tests provide women and their families “agency” over their treatment plans and futures.
“It can give family members who have the gene time to have children sooner if they know they’re going to have preventative surgery,” she said.
Lorraine O-Hagan, 45, from Croydon, narrowly escaped ovarian cancer thanks to the “life-saving” test.
Her sister, Marion Bines, was checked for the gene after she developed the disease, which led to her entire family getting tested.
The mum of two, who also tested positive for the gene, had a preventative hysterectomy after doctors discovered pre-cancerous cells on her fallopian tubes – an early sign of ovarian cancer.
She said: “The fact that my sister was tested for the gene saved my life.”
People with cancer and the BRCA gene can be offered specific treatment options.
Marion, 56, from Surrey, was diagnosed with the cancer in 2017 and is now on a BRCA treatment known as PARP inhibitors which stops tumours reappearing.
“If I wasn’t on this treatment I’d just be waiting for symptoms of cancer to emerge again, it’s changed my life,” she added.
The findings were presented at the British Gynaecological Cancer Society Annual Scientific Meeting in June.