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Today is Teal Ribbon Day but you wouldn’t know it. Ovarian Cancer doesn’t enjoy the same high profile as Breast Cancer, or anywhere near the same level of funding for research. As a consequence, treatment options for ovarian cancer have progressed very little since the 1970s and survival rates remain shockingly low.
This year 1,400 Australian women will be diagnosed with ovarian cancer and a quarter of them will die from the disease within 12 months. Only 43% of women with ovarian cancer will survive five years, compared to 89% of women with breast cancer.
According to the Australian Diagnostic Imaging Association (ADIA), Medicare funding restrictions are limiting the health system’s ability to increase life-saving screening for ovarian cancer.
“The fact is that some of the imaging services required to detect, monitor and treat ovarian cancer are not covered by Medicare – they are out-of-pocket expenses, so instead of encouraging women to be tested, the system is scaring them away due to the cost,” said ADIA President, Dr Christian Wriedt.
“Australia has an extremely successful screening process for breast cancer but we need a stronger focus on ovarian cancer,” Dr Wriedt said. “Because the initial symptoms of ovarian cancer are tricky to diagnose we need to systemically err on the side of caution and use diagnostic imaging earlier to see if there is an issue or not.”
Today the ADIA called for changes to Medicare to increase access to modern diagnostic technology, including Ultrasound, Computed Tomography (CT) and Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI), all of which play an important role in the diagnosis of primary ovarian lesions.
Even for those women able to pay the cost of diagnostic imaging, current Medicare licensing settings limit access to MRI exams in Australia says Dr Wriedt. “Because of that Australians only have access to about half the number of MRI services as the OECD average. This means women are at unnecessary risk of late detection leading to early death.”
Also today, Ovarian Cancer Australia announced the development of the first ever National Action Plan for ovarian cancer research to improve quality of life and survival for women with ovarian cancer.
CEO at Ovarian Cancer Australia Alison Amos said, “Ovarian cancer has a higher recurrence than other cancers because it commonly becomes resistant to current chemotherapy drugs.”
“Understanding what makes ovarian cancer recur is key to developing more effective treatments and we also need to develop less invasive surgical treatments for women with early stage ovarian cancer.”
The National Action Plan for ovarian cancer research will be informed by an extensive audit of the current research and by consultations with key researchers, clinicians, industry leaders and women with ovarian cancer. Similar initiatives have proven effective with other types of cancer such as breast and prostate cancer.
Teal Ribbons can be purchased for $2 each from Chemmart® Pharmacy, My Size and Plush stores nationwide; Brazilian Butterfly salons in ACT, Queensland, Victoria and WA; Noel Jones in VIC and from www.ovariancancer.net.au