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SPEAKER 1: Endometrial cancer is the most common gynecologic malignancy in the United States and developed nations. In fact, in 2015, there's going to be over 50,000 new cases of endometrial cancer diagnosed. And this year's the first year ever that more than 10,000 women will die from the disease.

The challenge is with the endometrial cancer is that there is not a screening test for it. Even though it's the most common gynecologic malignancy, we don't have a pap test for it, a mammogram for it. There's not a screening test that picks up endometrial cancer at an early stage or a precancerous stage.

About 90% of women who develop an endometrial cancer present with abnormal bleeding. And that's their first sign or symptom, and we can see abnormal bleeding in women with very early stage cancer, pre-cancer of the uterus, or advanced stage. And in advanced stage, bleeding may be the first sign or symptom.

In 2004, there was a small study published out of Europe looking at the use of tampons to detect endometrial cancer. The study showed that changes in DNA, such as methylation, picked up in the vagina of women with endometrial cancer indicated the presence of the cancer in the uterus when they compared this to women who did not have a cancer in the uterus. For unclear reasons, this is the only study looking at the use of tampons in endometrial cancer detection up until our study, which was recently published. We wanted to build a screening test around a collection device that was well-accepted, and patient accepted, and easy to access.

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Mayo researchers developing a new way to screen for endometrial cancer

Researchers at Mayo Clinic have shown that it is possible to detect endometrial cancer using tumor DNA picked up by ordinary tampons. The new approach specifically examines DNA samples from vaginal secretions for the presence of methylation — chemical off-switches that can disable genes that normally keep cancer in check.

The finding is a critical step toward a convenient and effective screening test for endometrial cancer, which is the most common gynecological malignancy in the United States.

Jamie N. Bakkum-Gamez, M.D., a gynecological surgeon at Mayo Clinic's campus in Rochester, Minnesota, discusses findings from the study, Detection of Endometrial Cancer via Molecular Analysis of DNA Collected With Vaginal Tampons, published in Gynecology Oncology in 2015.

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