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Blood test could improve survival in ovarian cancer patients

Updated: 2009-09-14 22:07:37 CST Category: Ovarian

by Brendan Missett

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved a blood test on Friday that will be used to help detect ovarian cancer and advocate treatment.
OVA1 tests levels of certain proteins which change in the presence of ovarian cancer. The protein levels measured are then combined into a single numerical score, between 1 and 10, which indicates the likelihood that a pelvic cyst will require surgery.

In 2002, the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists and the Society of Gynecologic Oncologists recommended that ovarian cancer patients who express certain indicators of malignancy should be referred to a gynecological oncologist. The OVA1 blood test will measure such indicators and provide information crucial to deciding whether surgery should be preformed, and by which doctor.

Jeffrey Shuren, director of the FDA's Center for Devices and Radiological Health commented that OVA1 will become vital in "providing patients and health care providers with more information to support medical decisions that impact survival rates and reduce surgical complications."

Research indicates that ovarian cancer patients more frequently survive when their surgery is performed by gynecologic oncologists rather than general gynecologists or surgeons.

The NCI reports that ovarian cancer testing can help find cancer at an early stage and increase the likelihood that it can be successfully treated.

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