New Screening Could Catch Ovarian Cancer in Earlier Stages

The best way to beat cancer is to get out in front of it. Early diagnosis and treatment is crucial and thanks to a new screening procedure at the University of Texas, ovarian cancer just got a little less threatening. Read below about how the new screening process may help identify ovarian cancer earlier in women.

Ovarian cancer is so dangerous -- it kills about 14,000 of the 20,000 U.S. women diagnosed each year -- because it has few telltale symptoms and is often not detected until it’s in fairly advanced stages. But researchers at University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center have now shown that a new screening procedure may help identify ovarian cancer cases earlier and more accurately. If their study results can be duplicated in a larger trial, they say, the screening could potentially save many of those lives in the near future.

Published today in the journal Cancer, the new study gave more than 4,000 post-menopausal women -- the age group most likely to get ovarian cancer -- a blood test that looked at levels of a protein called CA125. Based on a new algorithm to calculate their cancer risk, 5.8 percent of the women were classified as "intermediate risk" and were told they'd need a follow-up blood test there months later.

Another 0.9 percent were classified as "high risk" and were referred to a specialist for an ultrasound. Ten of those women had what were dubbed "suspicious" ultrasounds and underwent surgery -- four of whom were found to have early-stage, invasive ovarian cancer. Five had benign or non-invasive ovarian tumors, and one had endometrial cancer -- demonstrating that the screening-and-ultrasound combo leaves very little room for false positives.

Because the study was so small, says lead author Karen Lu, MD, these results alone won't change screening protocol in real life. But the researchers are awaiting the results of a much larger clinical trial taking place now in Europe that also uses the same new screening algorithm. "If the results of this study are also positive, then this will result in a change in practice," Dr. Lu adds.

For the full article from Self follow the link: http://on.self.com/1lcUd2i