Blood screening and ultrasounds could help identify ovarian cancer in its early stages, at least two years before the symptoms arise, British doctors said Tuesday.

Ovarian cancer is one of the most deadly cancers, in part because the symptoms are so vague that women often are not diagnosed until it is too late. Nearly 100,000 women worldwide die of ovarian cancer every year. If it is found early, nearly 90 percent of women survive.

The study of 200,000 women who used both tests together caught 90 percent of ovarian cancer cases, while using ultrasound alone each year caught 75 percent. Nearly half the cases were in the early stage I or stage II phases, when the cancer has not spread far and can sometimes be cured.

As there is no current good test for ovarian cancer, having a reliable screening test could save many lives, Ian Jacobs and Usha Menon of University College London said."The initial findings of this long-term study are encouraging, particularly because almost half of the ovarian cancers detected were at an early stage (stage 1), when survival rates can be as high as 90 percent," Peter Reynolds of Britain's Ovarian Cancer Action said in a statement.

Ovarian cancer was diagnosed in more than 21,000 women in the United States in 2008 and killed more than 15,000; in Britain it affects about 7,000 women a year and kills more than 4,000.

Jacobs and Menon said both the CA125 blood test and the transvaginal ultrasound test have been fine-tuned in recent years and now offer more useful information to doctors.

(Xinhua News Agency March 11, 2009)