Study Shows Promise for Ovarian Cancer Screening

By Stacy SimonResearchers from the United Kingdom have found that screening women for ovarian cancer may reduce deaths, but they caution that more study is needed to confirm their results. In one of the biggest trials of its type, the researchers studied more than 200,000 women aged 50 – 74 years in England, Northern Ireland, and Wales. After an average follow-up of 11 years, the trial concluded that ovarian cancer screening may reduce deaths by an estimated 20%. The study was published December 17, 2015 in The Lancet.Finding a way to accurately detect ovarian cancer in its early stages could save many women’s lives, because survival rates are much higher when the disease is caught early. But currently, there is no proven strategy for early detection, and symptoms of the disease often don’t appear until the cancer has spread and is harder to treat.Part of the challenge of developing a screening strategy is the need for a test that is very accurate, both in helping to determine which women have ovarian cancer and which do not. Diagnosing ovarian cancer requires surgery to remove the ovaries. A screening test with as few false positives as possible would reduce the number of unnecessary operations.Blood test and ultrasoundPrevious studies have looked at screening using a blood test for the CA 125 protein, which is a tumor marker often elevated in women with ovarian cancer, combined with an ultrasound exam of the ovaries. But those studies did not demonstrate a...
Source: American Cancer Society :: News and Features - Category: Cancer & Oncology Tags: Ovarian Cancer Prevention/Early Detection Source Type: news