Over 4,000 women in the UK die from ovarian cancer each year and the latest initiative by the University of Wales College of Medicine will seek to offer vital new information.

Lazar Amso:

An estimated 16,000 women aged from 50-75 will be randomly selected for the �650,000 three-year programme, which will be headed by consultant gynaecologist Lazar Amso.

Mr Amso said the project would help decide whether a national routine screening programme was required in the UK.

He added that it would also help contribute to the medical profession's understanding of the disease.

"This study will alert us to any women currently suffering in the early stages of the disease that we otherwise might not know about," said Mr Amso.

Blood tests

"The campaign is seeking to recruit up to 200,000 women from across the UK."

Similar existing screening programmes are undertaken for cervical and breast cancer.

Half of those involved undergo blood tests and the other half will be given ultrasound scans.

Women with a family history of ovarian cancer - or who have undergone treatment for cancer - will not be eligible to take part in the project.

Intensive treatment

Funding for the UWCM programme has come from the Medical Research Council, NHS Research and Development and leading cancer charities.

Mr Amso's research will be studied by the London School of Medicine.

In January, it was announced a new, intensive form of chemotherapy was being trialled to help treat women with ovarian cancer.

Almost 80% of those taking part in the trials - involving the drug cisplatin - saw their tumours shrink and 43% saw the cancer disappear.

Sir Paul Nurse, director general of the Imperial Cancer Research Fund, said the results of the study were very encouraging.