Growth kinetics of high-grade serous ovarian cancer: implications for early detection

High-grade serous ovarian cancer (HGSOC) is the most lethal gynaecological cancer with patients routinely diagnosed at advanced stages. Evidence from randomized controlled trials indicates that annual screening may not reduce cancer-related deaths. We aim to characterise the growth kinetics of HGSOC to understand why early detection failed and under what conditions it might prove fruitful.

We analysed data from 597 HGSOC patients and identified 34 cases with serial CT scans. We calculated the growth rates of lesions in the ovaries/pelvis and the omentum and estimated the time to metastasis using a Gompertz model. Finally, we simulated ultrasound and CA125 based screening in a virtual population of patients.

Growing lesions in the ovaries and the omentum doubled in volume every 2.2 months and 1.8 months respectively. The 11 cases with growing lesions in both sites had a median interval of 13.1 months between disease initiation and the onset of metastasis. Our simulations suggested that 27% of tumours would metastasise before screen detection. The remainder would provide a median window of 4.2 months for detection before metastasis.

Our results suggest that HGSOC lesions have short times to metastasis, preventing effective early detection using current screening approaches.