Too many women over the age of 65 are not getting surgery for ovarian cancer, campaigners have claimed.
An analysis by the charity Target Ovarian Cancer has found that elderly women with the disease are significantly less likely to get treatment than those with other cancers.
The charity says every woman should be offered surgery if it is appropriate.
It quotes figures from the National Cancer Intelligence Network showing that before the age of 55, some 81% of patients received surgery.
Up to the age of 65 the rate of surgery was 71% and between 65 and 75 it fell to 60%. After the age of 75, just 39% of patients received surgery.
The charity says part of the explanation is that older patients are often diagnosed late.
Charity chief executive Annwen Jones said: “It is incredibly worrying to see that older women with ovarian cancer are so much less likely to undergo surgery.
"It’s vital that all women with ovarian cancer are able to access the best possible care and treatments to give them every chance of beating this devastating disease.
“Women are much less likely to be offered surgery as a treatment if they are diagnosed with ovarian cancer too late, which is the case with a high proportion of older women, but which is often avoidable, and this too needs addressing."
The campaign was backed by a second charity Macmillan Cancer Support.
Jagtar Dhanda, head of inclusion at Macmillan Cancer Support said: “These findings once again suggest that cancer care for older people is an area of much needed improvement. It has been suggested that one of the reasons why older people don’t get treatment is because as people get older they might not want it.
“But Macmillan’s latest research shows that the vast majority of the time people over 65, and even those into their 80s and 90s, do want cancer treatment and they are usually proactive about getting signs and symptoms checked out.
“But we also found that older people are more likely to trust decisions from their health care professionals than younger people.
“So whilst symptoms of ovarian cancer might be difficult to spot, we’re urging all health care professionals to keep these findings at the front of mind when assessing older people for cancer treatment.”
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