The cost-effectiveness and value of gynecological cancer biomarker screening in financially vulnerable female populations

• Innovative gynecological cancer biomarker screening techniques for early stage gynecological cancer detection or prediction.
• Possible routes toward achieving affordable gynecological cancer prevention, detection, and/or management.
• Policy and ethical challenges against, and scientific limitations to, gynecological cancer biomarker screening.

Biomarkers are currently being developed and used to assess a female patient’s risk of gynecological cancer such as ovarian cancer, which is one of the most lethal forms of gynecological cancer. Certain biomarkers can be measured in blood samples of female patients, and the results can be used to analyze, predict, and manage those patients’ cancer outcomes. Financially vulnerable populations of women who could benefit from biomarker screening that either assesses cancer risk or detects early stage cancer face relatively higher mortality rates as a result of delayed and/or inefficient cancer screening. Delayed and/or inefficient cancer screening is largely due to their inability to afford such biomarker screenings. Given the financial hardship faced by this population of women, it is important to understand exactly what biomarkers are and the value they currently or could provide in clinical settings. It is also important to understand how biomarker screening contributes directly to our nation’s goal of achieving a value-based healthcare system that emphasizes disease prevention and personalized medicine. This article explores the “value-added” portfolio of biomarker screening, and provides a written analysis of current literature. This article then describes how biomarkers can be used to achieve affordable gynecological cancer prevention and/or early-stage cancer detection and management in financially vulnerable populations of women.