In The News: Social Influences, Germline mutations and OCNA Conference materials

There were a few interesting research reports release the past week or so.

Social Influences on Clinical Outcomes of Patients with Ovarian Cancer
This research appeared in the Journal of Clinical Oncology.  The lead researchers were from the University of Iowa but included doctors from different institutions throughout the country. In this prospective study ( women were recruited for the study and followed ) they  looked at the relationship between support and long term survival among women with epithelial ovarian cancer. One hundred sixty eight patients were recruited for the study.  The statistical model used to analyze the data took into account stage, grade, histology and age .

Conclusion: Greater social support was associated with a lower likelihood of death. Fifty-nine percent of  women with a high level of social support were found to survive 4.70 years while those with minimal support survived a median of 3.35 years.

My Take: I find this study intriguing.  I would like to see this study done with a larger population


Germline BRA1 and BRCA2 Mutations in Ovarian Cancer:Utiltiy of a Histology-Based Referral strategy 

This Canadian Study ran from 2004 to 2009 and will be published in an upcoming issue of  Obstetrics and Gynecology.  The study recruited women with nonmucinous epithelial ovarian cancer , fallopian or primary peritoneal cancers and asked them to bank their tumors and receive genetic counseling. Family history was taken for each patient. One hundred thirty-one women participated. BRCA 1 and 2 mutations were found in twenty percent of the women and exclusively in women with high grade serous histology.

Conclusion: Germline mutations are associated with high-grade serous histology.  This suggests that all women with high grade serous ovarian cancer have genetic testing. This will improve detection rates and mutation carriers will be found that would not be found if only family history of breast and ovarian cancer is used.

My Take: Since the treatment of ovarian cancer for those with BRCA mutations can vary from those without the mutations this study strengthens the call for genetic testing of all women with high grade serous ovarian cancer.

OCNA Conference
The OCNA conference took place in early July in Washington ,DC.
Here is a link to the conference materials which include a number of interesting presentations related to research and treatment.


Dee
Every Day is a Blessing!