New screening process could detect ovarian tumours early

US scientists have developed a promising new way of screening patients for ovarian cancer. The new strategy could allow for the successful detection of the disease in the early stages, allowing for more successful treatment to be developed.

A "two-stage" test for the screening of ovarian cancer has been developed by researchers at the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center. The new strategy screens the blood for changes in the CA125 protein, which is known to be an indication that tumours are present in a person.

The study that saw the development of the new screening technique was conducted over a period of 11 years and included 4,051 women. All of the women involved in the research were post-menopausal and had a blood test each year to assess changes to their CS125. The information garnered from these blood tests allowed the researchers to separate the women into three groups using the 'Risk of Ovarian Cancer Algorithm'.

All the women were separated into a group depending upon their risk of developing ovarian cancer, as suggested by the blood test results. Low risk women should only receive annual CA125 tests, intermediate risk women should repeat the test in three months and those that are classed as high risk should be recommended for a transvaginal ultrasound and see a gynaecologic oncologist.    

Throughout the life of the study it was found that 5.8 per cent of the women were classed as intermediate risk, while 0.9 per cent were recommended to receive the ultrasound. Out of these high risk women, ten went on to receive surgery. It was found that two of those women had ovarian tumours that had low chances of becoming malignant, four had invasive ovarian cancers, three had benign tumours and one was diagnosed with endometrial cancer.

According to the researchers, this new method of screening has a 40 per cent positive predictive value for the prediction of invasive forms of ovarian cancer. If approval is granted for a clinical trial, thousands of women in the US alone could benefit from the early detection of ovarian tumours.