International Federation of Gynecology and Obstetrics

Researchers claim to have identified a genetic flaw which leads to higher risks of suffering from ovarian cancer.

Scientists at the Cancer Research UK Genetic Epidemiology Unit at the University of Cambridge and University College London said the risk of developing cancer increases by 40 per cent when women have both copies of the flaw.

Around 15 per cent of the female population are in this position, the researchers report in Nature Genetics.

Women carrying the chromosome nine variation on both genes have a 14 in 1,000 chance of developing ovarian cancer, it is reported, compared with ten in 1,000 for those who do not.

Dr Simon Gayther from UCL, who worked on the study, said: "There is now a genuine hope that as we find more genetic variants, we can start to identify the women at greatest risk and this could help doctors to diagnose the disease earlier when treatment has a better chance of being successful."

According to researchers at the University of Kentucky Chandler Medical Center and Markey Cancer Center, US, ultrasound techniques are better at predicting occurrences of ovarian cancer than symptom analysis.