Features

New York Times (February 8, 2002) reports that researchers are reporting that they have taken the first step toward developing a reliable blood test for ovarian cancer, including cases that are still early enough to be curable.

A means of early detection is much needed, doctors say, because ovarian cancer is usually diagnosed late, and as a result is often fatal.

In a preliminary study in 116 women, 50 with ovarian cancer and 66 without, the new test looked promising. It missed none of the cancers, although it gave false-positive results - mistakenly diagnosing cancer in healthy women - in 5 percent of cases.

Initially, the researchers had the computer analyze spectrums from 50 women who had ovarian cancer and 50 who did not. The program found a five-protein pattern that existed only in the cancer patients.

The test, developed by scientists at the National Cancer Institute, the Food and Drug Administration and Correlogic Systems, a company in Bethesda, Md., requires only a drop of blood and gives results in 30 minutes. It is described in a report that is being posted today on the Web site of the British medical journal Lancet (www.thelancet.com).