Earlier this year at the 2019 Cancer and Primary Care Research International Network (Ca-PRI) Conference in Toronto, Cancer Group’s Garth Funston chatted to Dr Kristi Milley for the PC4 podcast.

Building on his conference presentation ‘The association between CA125 level, diagnostic interval and stage at diagnosis in ovarian cancer: an analysis of CPRD and NCRAS data’ and 2018 research paper Recognizing gynecological cancer in primary care: Risk factors, red flags, and referrals, Garth discussed his current PhD research on the topic of evaluating tests and tools to diagnose ovarian cancer, with a specific focus on biomarker CA125 in primary care.

Ovarian cancer is difficult to diagnose in a primary care setting due to its rarity; in the UK a GP will see an average of one case every five years. Furthermore, many of the symptoms of ovarian cancer are not unique, resulting in misdiagnosis as a more common illness. Although conditions other than ovarian cancer can cause an increase in CA125, Garth believes that it remains the best tool we currently have for early identification of ovarian cancer.

You can listen here and read the full show notes here.