Jun 25, 2008 11:13 am US/Eastern
New Screening Successful At Finding Ovarian Cancer
DENVER (CBS) ―
Ovarian cancer is one of the hardest diseases to detect at an early and curable stage. Now a simple, new screening is finding the cancer more than 80 percent of the time -- before it spreads, CBS station KCNC-TV in Denver reports.
There are some vague symptoms that by themselves don't seem like much, but combine those symptoms with a simple blood test and you can find ovarian cancer earlier then ever before.
Doctors used to call ovarian cancer the silent killer because they thought there were no symptoms until it had spread.
"That's not the case," KCNC's Medical Editor Dr. Dave Hnida said. "There are three symptoms almost all women get with early ovarian cancer, but they are symptoms that tend to be ignored, or symptoms doctors tend to say, 'Don't worry about.'"
Doctors take those three symptoms; combine them with a blood test, and the early detection rate ranges from less than 20 percent than greater than 80 percent.
'(There) are the three symptoms, which tend to be more 'stomachy' than gynecological," Hnida said.
The symptoms are as follows:
• Bloating, or just an increase in size of the stomach.
• Abdominal discomfort or pain -- especially down low.
• Sense of feeling full quickly after eating.
The blood test is called a CA-125. All doctors can do the test in the office. By itself, the test isn't very specific. Combine it with the three symptoms and it's very accurate.
"If you have had these symptoms for years, it's probably not ovarian cancer," Hnida said. "But if the symptoms are new, a period of weeks to months, and coming regularly, you need to get things checked out. And don't let your doctor say, 'Don't worry about it.'"
The biggest problem with all screening tests is over diagnosis -- false positives. But odds are the most testing that will be required to rule out cancer would be an ultrasound to look for something growing on the ovary.
"This new way of screening hopefully will save a lot of lives without causing a lot of anxiety," Hnida said.
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