Promising breakthrough in ovarian cancer treatment
A simple blood test for ovarian cancer in women over fifty is a step closer.
A UK trial has shown it is twice as effective at detecting the deadly disease.
There is no screening in Australia for ovarian cancer, like there is for breast and cervical cancer.
Some 1400 Australian women are expected to be diagnosed this year.
Professor Clare Scott, of Ovarian Cancer Australia , said: "For those women it's a devastating diagnosis because very often we can't cure it."
But a UK trial involving 200,000 women over the age of 50 is showing extremely promising signs in detecting the disease in women who have shown no symptoms.
Researchers found 'one-off' blood tests for ovarian cancer only detected high levels in 48 per cent of women, but annual tests over a 12-year period of 46,000 women detected cancer in 86 per cent of cases.
While the early trial results are stunning, researchers are waiting for important data on survival rates to be released next month that will determine whether a national screening program is warranted.
"If the results in June show women do live longer, the first thing will be to evaluate how to implement in Australia and indeed in every country," Professor Scott added.
Professor Ian Jacobs has dedicated the last 30 years to developing a screening test.
"It will be wonderful to have been associated with this and most importantly to have contributed to something which could save so many thousands of lives," he said.
