This is the only BGCS Scientific Meeting for 2012. The programme includes challenging topics for surgeons, oncologists, pathologists, radiologists and nurses. Joining with the NCRI means we have the pick of the top scientists from the UK to present at the meeting. We also have top International speakers from Europe and North America.

The theme of the meeting is to explore why survival figures from the UK do not match the rest of Europe and how we can improve this.

For more information, please see the website or the flyer: BGCS London 2012 flyer.pdf

Please note the dates in your 2012 diary. Thank you.

If you have not already done so, please submit your abstract to the following website: www.bgcsconference.com

This flagship meeting for the BGCS will take place annually from now on and this year is being held in collaboration with the NCRI Gynaecological Cancer Clinical Studies Group.

The programme will focus on 'why survival figures from the UK do not match the rest of Europe and how we improve' and includes presentations from renowned specialists from around the globe. This meeting is a 'must' for surgeons, oncologists, pathologists, radiologists and nurses working in the field of Gynaecological Cancer.

Please visit the meeting website www.bgcsconference.com in order to register and submit your abstract by 8 May 2012.

• General practitioners (x4)
• General practitioner from a GP Commissioning Consortium (x2)
• Cancer Services Manager from an Acute Trust
• Consultant radiologist
• Public Health / Epidemiologist with a special interest in cancer
• Trust Cancer Lead Clinician
• Primary care nurse practitioner

The advert for membership of the GDG (including the job description and person specification) can be viewed on the NICE website at:
http://www.nice.org.uk/getinvolved/joinnwc/ReferSuspectCancerMemberGDG.jsp

I would be very grateful if you could circulate this to anyone within your organisation who may be interested in applying. **The closing date for receipt of applications is 5pm on Monday 30 April 2012. **

A copy of the draft scope for this guideline is also available on the NICE website: www.nice.org.uk/guidance/index.jsp?action=folder&o=58776

If you should need further information or clarification please do not hesitate to get in touch.

Many thanks

Kind regards

Angela Bennett
Assistant Centre Manager / Rheolwr Cynorthwyol y Ganolfan
National Collaborating Centre for Cancer / Canolfan Genedlaethol Cydweithredu dros Ganser
2nd Floor / 2il Llawr
Park House / Tŷ Parc
Greyfriars Road / Heol y Brodyr Llwydion
Cardiff / Caerdydd
Wales / Cymru
CF10 3AF

Tel/Ff ôn: 029 20402926
Fax/ Ffacs: 029 20402911
E-mail/ E-bost: angela.bennett2@wales.nhs.uk

Specific Offical Gynae NCIN outputs are also available here:
NCIN data briefing Cervical Incidence and Coverage.pdf
NCIN Major resection data briefing.pdf
NCIN routes to diagnosis data briefing.pdf
NCIN routes to diagnosis technical data.pdf
Peer Review Gynaecology Briefing Sheet CLE.pdf
Peer Review Gynaecology Evidence Guide CLE.pdf

Kind Regards

Sue Knights
Senior Information Analyst
Mobile: 07917 132497

We are conducting a survey amongst UK clinicians who treat women with ovarian cancer as part of a wider study entitled Advanced Ovarian Cancer Treatment and Care Experiences: ADVOCATE.

We want to know more about your management of advanced disease (Stages II - IV) and the sorts of supportive, ameliorative interventions available or needed for patients.

The survey is anonymous and easily completed online in less than 10 minutes through the following link

https://www.research.net/s/SHORE-C_AOC_Survey_2011

Thank you very much for your help

Professor Jonathan Ledermann BSc MD FRCP
Clinical Director Cancer Division UCL Hospitals and Professor of Medical Oncology in the UCL Cancer Institute, University College London

Professor Martin Gore MBBS PhD FRCP
Medical Director of The Royal Marsden and Professor of Cancer Medicine at The Institute of Cancer Research

Professor Lesley Fallowfield FMedSci DPhil BSc
Professor of Psychosocial Oncology, SHORE-C, Brighton & Sussex Medical School

Dr Valerie Jenkins DPhil BSc
Deputy Director, SHORE-C, Brighton & Sussex Medical School

The COSD will be the new national standard for reporting cancer in the NHS in England. It will replace the current National Cancer Dataset and will include the Cancer Registration dataset and additional site specific data items relevant to the different tumour types. It will be aligned with existing national cancer datasets (Cancer Waits and Radiotherapy) and with the Systemic Anti Cancer Therapy dataset (SACT), currently in development.

Further information

The project management and running of the COSD project has now transferred from the NHSIC to the NCIN as explained in the joint NHSIC/NCIN position statement on the NCIN website.

For further information please see the attached leaflet: COSD Newsletter August 2011.docx

Or, email: cosd@ncin.org.uk
Trish Stokes, COSD Programme Manager, NCIN

Linda Dutton
SSCRG Administrator, National Cancer Intelligence Network (NCIN), 18th Floor, Portland House, Bressenden Place, London, SW1E 5RS
Telephone: 020 8282 6321
Mobile: 07796 642887
Fax: 020 7869 8191
Email: linda.dutton@ncin.org.uk
Website: www.ncin.org.uk

Where: 8th Annual RCOG Careers Fair, London
When: 10 am - 4 pm on Saturday 19 November 2011

I am writing to invite you to participate once again in this enjoyable event as one of our key Specialty Societies for O&G.

The Careers Fair has been a focal point in the RCOG's drive to attract excellent medical students and young doctors into the specialty, and usually has an attendance of around 300. This is an important event for those who are considering obstetrics and gynaecology as a possible career choice, and is crucial for the specialty as a whole in terms of providing information and guidance to our prospective colleagues.

Would BGCS conduct a workshop? In addition, we plan to have an exhibition with stands to provide both written and face to face information for delegates. Workshops will be 'drop-in' style and will run throughout the day. Previous delegates have really valued practical demonstrations that give them a 'hands on feel'. Past workshops have included virtual reality laparoscopy, pelvic trainers, suture training, delivery models, ultrasound models including amniocentesis and scanning abilities, etc.

Would BGCS man an exhibition stand? We plan to have an exhibition with stands to provide both written and face to face information for delegates and to provide information and advice throughout the day.

Please contact Jessica Letters by Friday 29 July 2011 to indicate your willingness to participate (details above). We would also be grateful if you could give us an idea of your plans for the day i.e. the type of workshop you would like to conduct, who will deliver it and whether you are able to also man an exhibition stand during the day.

RCOG will cover expenses including free registration, travel and transport charges for equipment plus refreshments during the day. If you need any assistance regarding the organisation of the workshop please do not hesitate to contact Jessica at the College on: 0207 772 6297.

Thank you for your help with this important endeavour.

Yours sincerely

Dr Melissa Whitten
Careers Officer, RCOG

The BGCS continues to expand and develop and as with many societies the secretariat support requires restructuring. To this end the BGCS has explored all options, and the final decision was to base the BGCS secretariat at the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists, in Regent's Park, London. Other specialist societies have their secretariat based there as well. This, I hope, will give long-term stability to the secretariat support for the Society. Combined with the newly developed website - I hope members will be able to engage with greater ease and speed.

I and Council wish to welcome Kim the new Secretary to the team, whilst also sending our thanks to Julie who oversaw and managed the BGCS through some very challenging times. We are most grateful for her input and support.

Regards

Sean Kehoe
President BGCS

JAMA, 8 June 2011, 305; 2295-2303.

The PLCO randomised controlled trial published its follow up data in JAMA. 78, 216 women aged between 55 - 74 years were assigned to annual screening with annual transvaginal ultrasound and CA125 testing (n=39,105) or usual care (n=39,111). Enrolment was completed in 2001 and median follow up was for 12.4 years.

This is the first study with adequate power to report on a mortality impact of ovarian cancer screening. There is also minimal contamination in control arm with controls still having some form of ovarian cancer screening (up to 4.6% of participants). Mortality from ovarian cancer, including primary peritoneal and fallopian tube cancers was no different between the 2 groups. In the intervention group 1080 had surgery resulting from a false positive rate of 5% mostly from the ultrasound but surgical cases had a 15% 'serious' complication rate. The stages of cases in the 2 groups were identical.

Professor Ian Jacobs and Professor Usha Menon who lead the randomised controlled trial for ovarian cancer screening in the UK (UKCTOCS) have pointed out some important limitations to this trial.

• First, of the 212 intervention group cancers, only 126 were diagnosed during screening and 46 were diagnosed over 2 years after the end of screening, raising a criticism that the large number of reported cancers in the follow up phase of the intervention group could have diluted any beneficial screening effect.
• Second, intervention by clinicians in PLCO was left to their discretion without a clear protocol for intervention.
• Third, the risk of ovarian cancer algorithm (ROCA) using serial CA125 values was not used but a cut off for CA125 at >35g/ml. The ROCA achieves significantly higher sensitivity and lead time compared to a simple CA 125 cut off. This is reflected in the prevalence data from UKCTOCS which shows a stage shift with a greater proportion of screening women in either the CA125 or ultrasound arms as compared to the control arm, diagnosed with stage I or II disease. This effect was also seen as a non-significant trend in a Japanese study of 82,467 women published in 2008 in contrast to the results from the PLCO trial. If this stage shift persists into the incidence data it is possible that UKCTOCS will show a difference in mortality between screened and unscreened groups.
• Fourth, quality assurance has also been applied to UKCTOCS with accreditation of the ultrasonographers and independent review of abnormal results to provide consistency of onward care for women who are screen positive.
• Finally, the false positive rate and complication rate in UKCTOCS is lower than in the PLCO trial. All of these points leave room for hope that the PLCO trial has underestimated the impact of OC screening. The outcome of UKCTOCS will be known in 2015. Until then there will be continuing uncertainty about the efficacy of OC screening.

For more information, please see: http://jama.ama-assn.org/content/305/22/2295.full

BJOG are interested in receiving original research articles, opinion generating commentaries and systematic reviews on all aspects of gynaecological oncology including basic science, epidemiology, diagnostic techniques, therapies, patient orientated outcomes and holistic approaches to patient wellbeing. All submissions will be peer reviewed.

The submission deadline is: 31 May 2011

For more information, please contact: Emily Jesper, BJOG Managing Editor.
Email: ejesper@rcog.org.uk
Telephone: +44 (0) 207 772 6236, or
See the website.

The new website has been designed so that we can quickly and easily upload new information to the site to keep abreast of developments within the specialty. As you can see, it is cleaner looking, more accessible and overall much improved on the old site that we had. The site has also been designed to work across a wide variety of operating platforms including a special design for smart phones.

All fully paid up members of the BGCS were issued with a new login and password on Friday 20 May 2011 which allows access to the member's section of the site which includes a newly designed online forum which was one of the only popular features of the old website.

As the website has been completely rewritten we welcome the submission of relevant news articles, events listings and research/clinical trial information as well as useful public information and weblinks. Please submit these to the webmaster. Many thanks in advance for your input. We hope that you will enjoy using and benefit from the content of your new website.

Prior to publication, a meeting was held on 15 October 2010 to present the guidance in the draft document to members of the BGCS. Gynaecological oncology, medical oncology, radiology, clinical nurse specialists, ovarian charities, patient groups, network leads, unit leads and MDT coordinators were represented.

The comments in the attachment below are the views expressed at the meeting in the context of a broader consultation with BGCS members. NICE OC SH comments 11-10.doc

For the latest news for BGCS members please click on (SL please send this file - it might also make the page look/read better if we have small summaries of the news for people to scan before this paragraph).