Is There Potential for Pap Smears in Ovarian Cancer Detection?
The future may hold even better screening tools
As to whether pap smear tests, such as the PapSEEK or the PapGene test, can be performed on a wide range of specimens is still too early to tell. Millions of pap smear tests are performed in the United States on an annual basis. Today, the most common ones used to screen for ovarian cancer include transvaginal ultrasound and the CA-125 blood test. Still, researchers are hopeful that in the near future, they will be able to create more screening tools that will be reliable enough to detect ovarian cancer at an early stage and precise enough to differentiate it from other non-cancerous growths.
