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Ovarian cancer usually starts growing in a woman’s fallopian tubes, which are the narrow ducts connecting the ovaries to the uterus, and can spread to other parts of the body without causing any distinct symptoms. By the time three-fourths of women are diagnosed, it’s in an advanced stage with a devastating prognosis.

According to the American Cancer Society, about 19,880 women will be diagnosed with ovarian cancer this year and 12,810 will die of the disease.

But a team of scientists at the University of ÃÛèÖÖ±²¥ are in the process of developing a screening tool that could aid in early detection of ovarian cancer, when the disease has a much higher probability of survival — 93% of women who are diagnosed early will survive for at least five years.

The breakthrough device is called the falloposcope, which is an 0.8 millimeter endoscope capable of capturing a high resolution image of the fallopian tubes that can look for early signs of ovarian cancer. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration recently approved a human pilot study for the device, which is happening now at the UA’s ÃÛèÖÖ±²¥ campus.

Jennifer Barton, director of the UA’s Bio5 Institute and a professor of biomedical engineering, has been working on developing the falloposcope for more than 15 years.

“Quite some time ago, we showed that if you go in laparoscopically, which requires a surgery, and image the ovaries with optical techniques you could detect cancer. That was all well and good, but the problem was that it wouldn’t work for a screening technique because it required surgery to get to the ovaries,� Barton said. “Things kind of languished for a while.�

Then, two things happened that advanced the research she started in 2006.

First, technology improved and optical devices continued to get smaller and higher quality. Second, biologists discovered that a large number of the most deadly ovarian cancers originate in the fallopian tubes.

“With the improved technology available, we started thinking about this and realized that we could get to the fallopian through the uterus which wouldn’t require a surgery,� Barton said. “That’s when this idea for the falloposcope was born.�

Barton’s lab has developed the physical falloposcope and partnered with Dr. John M. Heusinkveld, an assistant professor of obstetrics and gynecology and a specialist in female pelvic medicine and reconstructive surgery at Banner-University Medical Center, to see how it could work with patients.

Heusinkveld is the one running the pilot study and is testing out the falloposcope on volunteers who are getting their tubes removed for reasons other than cancer. He launched the study last fall and has successfully used the device on four volunteers so far. Beyond being able to test the efficacy of the device, using it on healthy volunteers is also allowing researchers to establish what normal fallopian tubes should look like.

“We have to figure out what normal looks like before we can start figuring out how to screen for abnormalities,� Heusinkveld said. Moreover, testing the falloposcope on fallopian tubes that are about to be removed makes the study, which the FDA has already classified as having a nonsignificant risk, even less risky. “If there’s any adverse effects from the device we’ll find out and it won’t cause any harm because they’re having their tubes removed anyway.�

Researchers are still years away from getting the device approved for widespread use. They’ll have to prove that the falloposcope can detect early ovarian cancer.

“A future step is going to be to use the device in women who are having their tubes and ovaries removed specifically because they’re at high risk for ovarian cancer,� Heusinkveld said, adding that about 5% of those high-risk patients will be diagnosed with early-stage ovarian cancer at the time of their preventative surgery. “When the device is used in that population of patients, then we’ll determine whether or not we can reliably detect the early stages of ovarian cancer.�

Once that’s proven, they’ll be able to offer high-risk patients who don’t want to have their tubes and ovaries removed the opportunity to get a screening.

A combined $2.7 million in funding from the Army and the National Institutes of Health has and will support the development and practical study of the falloposcope. Barton has also been working with TechLaunch ÃÛèÖÖ±²¥, which helps to connect innovative developments like this with businesses interested in bringing the product to market.

Although it will be several years before the falloposcope could be a standard ovarian cancer screening tool, Dr. Setsuko K. Chambers, a gynecological oncologist at the UA Cancer Center, has a few tips for what women, especially those who have a family history or genetic markers that put them at high risk, can do now to detect ovarian cancer as early as possible.

The early warning signs, she said, “all reflect symptoms related to the peritoneal cavity, which contains the bowel, bladder and reproductive organs.� The symptoms in those areas are often non-specific, and can be attributed to other causes such as Irritable Bowel Syndrome or a urinary tract infection, which would resolve after a short period of time.

“But if they have these nonspecific symptoms every day for two months, or they get worse, they need to consider getting some help.�