(May 20, 2010)--Doctors may be getting closer to developing a way to screen healthy women for signs of ovarian cancer, which is one of the deadliest forms of cancer.

The method uses a blood test for a protein that often is high in women with ovarian tumors.

Women with high scores are then given ultrasound exams, and then would undergo exploratory surgery if the ultrasound finds a problem.

Researchers tested this method in more than 3,000 American women.

Only eight needed to have an operation, and just three of them turned out to have deadly tumors.

This screening approach needs more testing before it goes into wide use.

A larger study is under way now in England.