A Pap-style test helps doctors spot womb cancer early — and spare women biopsies they don't need

For women sent for checks after unusual bleeding, the road to an answer often starts with an invasive tissue biopsy — yet more than nine in ten of them turn out not to have cancer. A peer-reviewed study in Gynecologic Oncology Reports offers a gentler first step: EdenDx, a lab test that reads a routine Pap-style cervical sample for early chemical changes in two genes linked to endometrial (womb) cancer. In the study, the test correctly cleared 96.8% of cancer-free cervical samples and, in tissue samples from US patients, found 85% of cancers. It is early evidence, and the test supports — never replaces — a biopsy. But it could help doctors decide who truly needs one, for a cancer that still has no screening program at all.

SDG 3 · Good health and well-being — Mechanism: tech innovation