New test could improve diagnosis of ovarian cancer

This is a valuable study that has reported the results for around 50,000 women aged 50 or over who were allocated to one arm of a larger trial. They had their ovarian cancer risk assessed annually using the risk of ovarian cancer algorithm (ROCA).
When CA125 levels were used to categorise cancer risk alongside this algorithm, the algorithm was able to accurately identify 86% of women with ovarian cancer. Encouragingly, it ruled out almost 100% of women who were cancer-free. This means these women would not undergo unnecessary further investigation and surgery.
The study suggests the new algorithm could be a valuable way of assessing ovarian cancer risk. This cancer has notoriously non-specific symptoms often only first detected when it is at an advanced stage.