New test for ovarian cancer is more accurate

A new screening test for ovarian cancer can detect more women with the disease than previous methods, a new study from the United Kingdom suggests.

Overall, the new screening method detected ovarian cancer in 86 percent of the women in the study who had the disease. That's about double the percentage seen in earlier studies, in which other screening methods detected about 41 to 48 percent of women with ovarian cancer, the researchers said.

In the study, more than 46,000 women ages 50 and older underwent yearly blood tests to check their levels of a protein called CA125, which is produced by most ovarian cancers. The researchers created a computer program to assess a woman's risk of ovarian cancer based on a number of factors, including how her levels of CA125 changed over the years. In contrast, current methods used to screen for ovarian cancer involve checking to see whether CA125 levels are above a certain threshold at a single point in time.

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