Early detection of ovarian cancer

Ovarian cancer can now be detected in its earliest and most treatable stage by a new computerised screening method. Ovarian cancer is the uncontrolled malignant growth of cells in the ovarian tissue. It is less common form of cancer, which usually occurs in women over the age of 50 years. This particular cancer is also known as the "silent killer" because the symptoms fail to show up until a late, often untreatable stage of the disease and it is usually not diagnosed until it has spread beyond the ovaries. Since the ovaries are located deep inside the abdomen, they are not easily accessible for examination. Therefore so far it is only when the tumour is really large that it can be felt. Researchers at the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the National Cancer Institute (NCI) described their non-invasive test as a major step towards arresting the disease in its early stage. This 30-minute blood test has been used to detect early ovarian cancer but it could also be used for any other type of cancer. Early detection means that the cancer can be treated before it has spread. The test fuses proteomics and artificial intelligence computer programmes to detect cancer. Proteomics is the study of proteins inside cells. The scientists used the test on blood samples from patients with and without ovarian cancer. It identified all 50 cancer samples and 63 out of 66 non-cancer samples. Most importantly, it was able to identify patients with early, stage 1, ovarian cancer. More than 80 per cent of ovarian cancer patients were diagnosed with late-stage in which survival rate is 20 per cent or less. Simple, accurate and non-invasive methods of early detection of ovarian cancer will improve the survival rate and the quality of life of patients who have hither to had to undergo extended and avoidable suffering due to inordinate delay in detection. Now it is proposed to confirm these findings by larger trials.

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