Ovarian cancer: UCL screening tests show promising results for early detection

Preliminary results of a UCL-led investigation suggest that testing women for ovarian cancers may become a reality. Following the largest randomised trial of ovarian cancer screening to date, Professor Ian Jacobs (Dean of UCL Health Sciences Research and Director of the UCL Institute for Women's Health), and Usha Menon (Head of the UCL Gynaecological Cancer Research Centre), have published their findings online in The Lancet Oncology today. The report, to be published in print in The Lancet Oncology's April edition, indicates that two tests ' a multimodal one involving a combined blood test and ultrasound, and a transvaginal ultrasound ' are feasible on a large scale and capable of detecting early stage ovarian cancers, with almost half of all cancers detected in stages I (i.e. with the cancer confined to the ovaries) and II (i.e. the cancer has spread beyond the ovaries, but is confined to the pelvic area). The blood test measures levels of a protein called CA125, which is often elevated in the blood of women who have ovarian cancer. The research team used statistics to determine the risk of ovarian cancer based on the woman's age, how much CA125 was present in their blood and how the level changed with time.