International Federation of Gynecology and Obstetrics

A team of US researchers has been given a grant to develop a new system for monitoring women at a high risk of gynaecological cancers.

The researchers from the University of Arizona have received $2.4 million (£1.45 million) from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to build a holographic imaging system which can indentify cancerous cells, in the hope of being able to monitor women for ovarian cancer.

A unique system, it projects multiple spatial images from different depths within a tissue sample to identify the cells.

The NIH claims there is currently no "single effective screening test for ovarian cancer", with 50 per cent of women diagnosed in the late stages as a result.

Ray Kostuk, one of the researchers, said: "The system will image like an MRI or a CT scan but with much higher resolution than an ultrasounic image and will be a lot less expensive than an MRI.

"As an additional benefit no radiation will be used or exposed to sensitive ovary areas during the cancer screenings."

A report in Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers & Prevention, a journal of the American Association for Cancer Research, recently claimed that women at high risks of ovarian cancer are now choosing surgery as a precautionary measure.