Earlier this year, Ovacome’s Head of Support Services Anna Hudson worked alongside expert clinicians from the British Gynaecological Cancer Society (BGCS) and the British Menopause Society (BMS) to co-create the first, much-needed guidance on the management of menopausal symptoms following treatment of gynaecological cancer.  

Via our support services, Anna hears every day of the significant impact menopausal symptoms can have on the quality of life for those diagnosed with ovarian cancer. Cancer therapies such chemotherapy, can affect ovarian function, as well as the chance of a surgical menopause following surgery for ovarian cancer. 

Anna’s role in the creation of these important new guidelines was to represent the views and experiences of the ovarian cancer community.  

Whilst these guidelines have been produced for use by any healthcare professional working with or treating those affected by gynaecological cancers, they are also accessible to you here, on the BGCS website: Guidelines and Recent Publications - British Gynaecological Cancer Society (bgcs.org.uk)  

Some of the general recommendations in these guidelines include: 

All women who are likely to go through menopause as a result of surgery, systemic therapy and/or radiotherapy treatment should have a pre-treatment discussion of possible menopausal symptoms and potential management options.  

Women should have access to evidence-based information about menopausal symptoms, HRT and alternative treatment options.   

Evaluation of symptoms and individual needs should be reassessed on a regular basis, with annual review once stable.  

Speaking about the release of these new guidelines, Anna said: “These guidelines have been long-awaited, and we are hopeful that they will have a positive impact on lots of people living with ovarian cancer.” 

“Sitting along expert clinicians during the creation of these guidelines meant that I was able to reflect the real-life experiences of our members which was crucial in developing guidelines that work in practice. 

“While there is more work to be done in ensuring that anybody struggling with menopausal symptoms as a result of their cancer diagnosis has access to the information and treatment they need, this guidance will also help people with a diagnosis to understand what their options are and the information they should be given at point of diagnosis.” 

Our support team are available via telephone, email or one-to-one online chat Monday – Friday 10am - 5pm if you have any questions about management of menopausal symptoms following an ovarian cancer diagnosis. Call 0800 008 7054, email [email protected] or find the pink 'Can we help you?' box in the bottom right hand corner of this page.

Ovacome have resources to give you more information about managing menopausal symptoms post-diagnosis.  

We were recently joined by Dr Laura Jarvis, Specialty Doctor in Tayside’s Sexual and Reproductive Health service and Julia Pugh, oncology advanced Nurse practitioner working in Manchester to deliver a webinar on managing menopause post-treatment using non-hormonal approaches. You can rewatch the webinar here: Managing menopause post treatment using non hormonal approaches.

We also have an information booklet on surgical menopause. Given the release of these new guidelines, this information is currently under review to include all recommendations made. We hope the newly updated booklet will be published by the end of October 2024. In the meantime, you can read the previous version of the booklet, which still contains useful and up-to-date information on this webpage.