Screening detects ovarian cancer using neighboring cells

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Apr. 22, 2013 — Pioneering biophotonics technology developed at Northwestern University is the first screening method to detect the early presence of ovarian cancer in humans by examining cells easily brushed from the neighboring cervix or uterus, not the ovaries themselves.

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A research team from Northwestern and NorthShore University HealthSystem (NorthShore) conducted an ovarian cancer clinical study at NorthShore. Using partial wave spectroscopic (PWS) microscopy, they saw diagnostic changes in cells taken from the cervix or uterus of patients with ovarian cancer even though the cells looked normal under a microscope.
The results have the potential to translate into a minimally invasive early detection method using cells collected by a swab, exactly like a Pap smear. No reliable early detection method for ovarian cancer currently exists.
In previous Northwestern-NorthShore studies, the PWS technique has shown promising results in the early detection of colon, pancreatic and lung cancers using cells from neighboring organs. If commercialized, PWS could be in clinical use for one or more cancers in approximately five years.
The ovarian cancer study was published this month by the International Journal of Cancer......

" The study included a total of 26 individuals. For cells taken from the endometrium (part of the uterus), there were 26 patients (11 with ovarian cancer and 15 controls); for cells taken from the endocervix, there were 23 patients (10 with ovarian cancer and 13 controls). The small size of the study reflects the difficulty in recruiting ovarian cancer patients."