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Researchers find improved ovarian cancer test

Category: Ovarian

Ovarian cancer can be one of the most difficult forms of the disease to treat because it is often not caught until it is in its later stages. However a new cancer test is promising the ability to detect the disease at earlier stages, reducing its fatality rate.

Ovarian cancer is known as the "silent killer" because of the difficulty of treating it and its high fatality rate. However, researcher from the University of Texas have found a protein in women's blood that can accurately predict their risk of developing the cancer.

Lead researcher, Karen Lu, told the Houston Chronicle that current ovarian cancer treatments are largely ineffective, but that the findings of the study could lead to improvements in the survivability of the disease.

"This is an important step forward in the effort to develop an early detection system for this very lethal disease," she told the news source. "If the study's findings are confirmed in larger studies, I think this new strategy will be practice-changing."

Nearly 70 percent of women diagnosed with ovarian cancer die from the disease, according to the National Cancer Institute.