CMR

Seattle, WA-One of the more difficult types of cancer to detect reliably is women’s ovarian cancer.

Now, a new study suggests that over 80 percent of the time this type of cancer can be reliably detected in its early stages by early stage symptoms, plus a blood test.

Many women have complained that they have regular checkups, but then later are told that they have ovarian cancer, and they feel like they should have been diagnosed earlier.

Finally a member of the medical community listened. Dr. Barbara Goff who is a researcher with the University of Washington worked for three years beginning in 2004 with her colleagues.

Despite its reputation as a “hidden killer,” Dr. Goff and her fellow researchers announced in 2007 that they have come up with a reliable set of factors, and early stage diagnostic tools that reveal the presence of ovarian cancer in its early stages over 80 percent of the time.

This is a huge step forward and exciting progress. Their new method is called the “Ovarian cancer system Index method,” and it is proving reliable and a method that is easily trained and adopted for doctors to use worldwide.

Dr. M. Robyn Andersen of Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, Dr. Goff of University of Washington, and their respective fellow researchers announced this exciting new system in 2007.

Now, this year these same researchers are advocating also adding a blood test for the CA 125 biomarker, to further back up and diagnose ovarian cancer.

The blood test is accurate about 50 percent of the time, but when it is used in conjunction with the new Ovarian System Index method the success rate is well over 80 percent for the combined method.