The pap smear – a routine test women undergo each year or two to screen for cervical cancer – could help screen for other types of cancer as well, a new study said this week.
A new test takes the same fluid swab from the cervix and tests it for the presence of certain cancer-specific mutations.
The scientists were hoping to catch cases of ovarian and endometrial cancer – two common and deadly cancers which, until now, were not able to be screened for routinely.
In the pilot study, the test was able to accurately detect each of 24 endometrial cancers, a 100 per cent success rate, according to results published on Wednesday in the US journal “Science Translational Medicine”.
The test also detected nine of 22 ovarian cancers, for a 41 per cent success rate during the pilot study. And in no cases were healthy women in the control group mis-identified as having cancer during the study.
The scientists cautioned that the process must be tested on a much larger scale before being made available to the public.