Researchers have developed a new "two-stage" ovarian cancer screening method that could detect the disease in its early stages.
Ovarian cancer is a deadly disease and more so because up until now, there have been no screening methods to detect the disease. Ovarian cancer is also known to have very few symptoms. However, researchers from University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston are hopeful that they could change this for the better. The researchers have developed a new "two-stage" ovarian cancer screening method that could detect the disease in its early stages. The screening measures changes in a blood protein called CA125, which is known as a marker for tumors.
If the screening method is accepted for clinical trial and proves to be effective, it could help save thousands of lives in the United States alone.
"Over the last ten years, there's been a lot of excitement over new markers and technologies in ovarian cancer," said Karen Lu, M.D., professor and chair, Department of Gynecologic Oncology and the study's corresponding author in a press release. "I and other scientists in the gynecologic oncology community thought we would ultimately find a better marker than CA-125 for the early detection of the disease. After looking at new markers and testing them head-to-head in strong, scientific studies, we found no marker better than CA-125."
The study analyzed 4,051 post-menopausal women over a period of 11 years. All of them underwent an annual CA125 blood test at the beginning of the study. Based on their results, all participants were divided into three groups
- Women who should receive another CA125 test 1 year later (low risk)
- Women who should receive a repeat CA125 test in 3 months (intermediate risk)
- Women who should receive a transvaginal ultrasound and be referred to a gynecologic oncologist (high risk).
Researchers found that each year 5.8 percent of the participants fell into the second category. And 0.9 percent fell into the third category of which 10 participants underwent surgery.
Four had invasive ovarian cancers, while two women had ovarian tumors of "low malignant potential," one had endometrial cancer, and three had benign ovarian tumors.
The National Cancer Institute predicts 22,240 new cases of ovarian cancer in the U.S. this year, with 14,030 deaths from the disease. Currently, there are no methods to detect the disease and the few symptoms include abdominal pain, feeling bloated and full, back pain, change in bathroom habits and vaginal bleeding or excess discharge, according to a CDC report.
Recently, The Penn Vet Working Dog Center in Philadelphia reported using dogs to sniff out ovarian cancer, according to an ABC News report.
