A new way of screening for ovarian cancer shows “potential.”
Scientists have developed a new screening strategy for ovarian cancer, which could detect the disease in its early stages, according to a study published in the journal Cancer.
Researchers from the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston have created a “two-stage” ovarian cancer screening method that measures changes in a blood protein known as a marker for tumors.
Ovarian tumors are difficult to detect in the earliest stages and many times it is too late to treat them effectively by the time they are found.
In the study, a trial of 4,051 women showed the method could identify those needing treatment.
The difference in survival rate is huge when ovarian cancer is detected early: 90% when it is caught early, compared with less than 30% if it is found in the later stages.
Unfortunately, ovarian cancer symptoms like pelvic and abdominal pain or persistent bloating are many times incorrectly associated with other common ailments and the tumor is missed.
There is no mass screening program to detect the cancer earlier either.
Scientists already know that levels of a protein in the blood, called CA125, are often higher with ovarian cancer. A blood test exists for detection but is not very reliable on its own. The test misses some patients and tells others they have the cancer when they are actually healthy.
Currently, researchers are testing the idea of using the blood test to sort patients in risk groups based on levels of the blood protein CA125.
Instead of going straight for surgery, low-risk patients are tested again in a year, medium-risk ones after three months and high-risk patients have an ultrasound scan to hunt for tumors.
The University of Texas study, followed post-menopausal women for 11 years on average. Ten women had surgery based on their ultrasound scan and all the cancers detected were at an early stage.
Don’t expect your next ovarian screening to change just yet. More studies will follow, but the study does provide some insight, as the procedure used in the study didn’t produce “a lot of false positives.”
A current UK study of 50,000 people could give definitive results to two questions: do we see cancers at an earlier stage and do we decrease the number of deaths.
While the study was relatively small, it certainly demonstrated that effective ovarian screening is possible.
The results of the UK study will become available in 2015 and are eagerly anticipated, especially considering the current encouraging UT study results.
Early detection of ovarian cancer will likely be the key to transforming survival rates. Finding a process that provides earlier detection is of paramount importance in saving future lives.
