Ovarian cancer is one of the deadliest cancers. It's sometimes called a silent killer, because it has no symptoms in its early stages. But through an experimental test using the vitamin folate, or folic acid, doctors may be able to find cancerous tumors sooner.

Three years ago Mary Ann Buckley was diagnosed with advanced ovarian cancer. She's a nurse, so you would think she would know something was wrong. But she didn't. Mary Ann Buckley says, "Like many other women, I explained the symptoms I was having as either because I was middle-aged, because I was post-menopausal, because I was not exercising enough."

A new test being studied at the Indiana University School of Medicine could help more women like Mary Ann, by diagnosing cancerous tumors sooner. It's called folate-scan. Patients are given the vitamin folate with radioactive material attached to it. Because cancer cells have lots of receptors for folate, it concentrates in the malignant tumors. Dr. Gregory Sutton, Gynecologic Oncologist says, "The malignant tumors, again, which have a high concentration of folic acid receptors, will as you say, light up on the scan or be visible ont he scan." On a normal cat scan a cancerous tumor may not be easy to spot, but with folate scan, there's a much clearer picture and hopefully a more definitive diagnosis.

In the future folate scan may be used for -treating- ovarian cancer as well as detecting it.