New test to detect uterine cancer reduces most false positives

A new, simple test detects uterine cancer without having to perform 90% of the surgical processes that are now used to diagnose it, in addition to reducing false positives, maintains a study by Austrian researchers.

“With this easy-to-perform test, many women with suspected uterine cancer could avoid very stressful hysteroscopies and biopsies in the future”says Martin Widschwendter, the director of the study that was published this Tuesday in the medical journal “The Lancet Oncology”.

The study was developed by the European Translational Oncology Prevention and Screening Institute (EUTOPS), linked to the University of Innsbruck, and focuses on epigenetic testing – changes in genes – for personalized prevention, risk prediction and detection early cancer.

The new test, named “WID-qEC”was performed at the University College Hospital in London on 400 women over 45 years of age who had abnormal vaginal bleeding.

The test consists of taking a cervicovaginal sample to perform DNA methylation, a process that can detect whether genes can develop cancer or not due to their behavior with their environment, and whose results are available in a matter of days.

Right after taking that sample, the standard process was carried out, that is, uterine ultrasounds and in cases where it was necessary, biopsies.

The same number of cancer cases were recognized with the standard procedure as with the new test, which detected uterine cancer in twelve of the women who participated in the study.

However, the improvement is that “WID-qEC” I would have saved the 90% of diagnostic surgical processes, since previously, women with unusual bleeding had to undergo those intrusive procedures, such as hysteroscopies and uterine scrapings.

According to the study, the new test offers “quick results and better performance than ultrasounds”. Furthermore, they highlight that the classification of women with abnormal uterine bleeding using the WID-qEC test could “reduce the rate of false positives.”

Uterine cancer is the fourth most common cancer in women, and human papillomavirus (HPV), a sexually transmitted infection, plays a major role.

Currently, if diagnosed in time it is easily treatable and the chances of recovery are high. This study was funded by the Austrian public, the British cancer foundation The Eve Appeal and the European Research Council.