Blood test being developed to improve ovarian cancer diagnosis

ABC NEWS (Australia)

Melbourne researchers have developed a new blood test to improve the diagnosis of ovarian cancer -- and it could help prevent unnecessary operations.

Transcript

00:00 Well, this is a diagnostic blood test that's been developed by the Hudson Institute of

00:06 Medical Research here in Melbourne.

00:09 And while it's not being used for early screening of ovarian cancer yet, that is the eventual

00:15 aim of researchers.

00:16 And they say that could happen within the next four to five years.

00:21 Now what they do say is that this is actually used as part of a biomarker, I guess, that

00:28 actually picks up those, what is given off by malignant tumours, but it's not passed

00:36 off by non-cancerous cysts.

00:38 And this is, at the moment, there's no reliable or accurate way of being able to diagnose

00:46 or have an early screening of ovarian cancer.

00:51 And this is one of the most lethal cancers for Australian women.

00:55 And it's also known as a bit of a silent killer as well, because the early symptoms are just

01:01 often so vague and difficult to detect until the later stages of the disease.

01:06 At the moment, what researchers want to do is they want to focus on using this blood

01:11 test as almost like a surgical triage tool, if you like.

01:16 And that means that it hopefully will avoid unnecessary surgery and also a lot of worry

01:22 for women that might actually not be dealing with a malignant tumour.

01:28 They might just have one of those much more common non-cancerous ovarian cysts.

01:33 And this biomarker has been first identified by the Hudson Institute's Dr. Andrew Stevens.

01:41 And he says that it is called CXCL10.

01:46 And what it does do is that it shows up really in the early stages of ovarian cancer as well.

01:52 This is what he had to say on News Breakfast a little while ago.

01:56 Look, this I think will be a very important tool in the clinical arsenal.

02:01 It will not only improve the allocation of health care resources and improve patient

02:07 outcomes by sending them to the right place, it also alleviates a lot of the anxiety that

02:12 these patients face.

02:14 In 9 out of 10 times, they don't have a cancer, but they have to wait until after surgery

02:19 to find out.

02:21 That's Dr. Andrew Stevens there.

02:22 And he's saying that at the moment, women who have suspected growths actually have to

02:27 go through this really invasive surgery.

02:30 And that often requires them to have their ovaries removed as well.

02:34 And he says that that puts them into instant menopause.

02:37 So not only do they no longer, they're no longer capable of actually being able to conceive

02:44 their own biological children, but it also brings with it a host of other potential medical

02:49 complications like an increased risk of cardiovascular disease, as well as osteoporosis and cognitive

02:55 decline.

02:56 So if they can avoid some of that unnecessary surgery and have much more conservative treatment

03:03 of those benign cysts, then that is going to save a lot of these women a lot of unneeded

03:08 heartache along the way.

03:11 He says that it's hoped that this first stage of using this blood test as a diagnostic tool

03:18 pre-surgery could be developed within two years.

03:22 And he says that the simple blood test could be used alongside the ultrasound and specialists

03:29 and GPs could have the results within about four hours.

03:33 So it's certainly going to provide a lot more reassurance to women that find themselves

03:38 in this situation.

03:39 [BLANK_AUDIO]

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