Today, a study asks whether a blood test could spot a warning sign before ovarian cancer becomes invasive.

Here, it means cancer that has grown into nearby tissue.

It involves microscopic changes, not an invasive cancer.

Here, it describes cancer that has grown into nearby tissue.

This research instead looked for molecular warning signs before invasive cancer develops.

Here, it means cancer that grows into nearby tissue.

Ovarian cancer can begin with microscopic changes in the lining of the fallopian tubes.

These are the tubes that carry eggs from the ovaries toward the womb.

Ovarian cancer can begin with microscopic changes in the lining of the fallopian tubes.

It is the thin layer of tissue on the inside of the tubes.

Researchers looked for a signal linked to this precursor condition, rather than trying to find a small tumor.

A condition that may come before a later disease.

Tu-Stroma is an RNA molecule that the study found at elevated levels in the blood of women with STIC.

The amount was higher than usual.

In the study, measuring Tu-Stroma detected STIC in 92.3 percent of affected women.

It found or identified STIC in those women.

It also correctly identified 98.2 percent of healthy women.

It correctly recognized which women were healthy.

The idea represents a different way to think about early detection.

Finding a disease or warning sign at an early stage.

The study found a possible approach to early detection, and co-author Esha Madan said it could eventually provide information relevant to preventive-surgery decisions.

Here, it means finding a disease or warning sign early.

Study leader Rajan Gogna said that was the question the researchers set out to ask.

They began their work with the aim of asking that question.

Many women with genetic risk factors face difficult decisions about preventive surgery.

Inherited traits that may make someone more likely to develop a disease.

Researchers may have found a measurable signal linked to STIC, a precancerous condition.

It describes a condition that may develop into cancer but is not cancer itself.