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A simple vaginal swab may one day help women with abnormal bleeding learn whether they have endometrial cancer without first going through a painful biopsy.

The test, from California-based PinkDx, is being studied at 16 U.S. sites, The Washington Post reported. It's meant for women who already have symptoms, such as bleeding after menopause.

Endometrial cancer starts in the lining of the uterus. Doctors often check for it with a transvaginal ultrasound, which uses a probe in the vagina to measure that lining. They may also do an endometrial biopsy, scraping out a small tissue sample through a thin tube passed into the uterus.

Both can be painful. Biopsies also fail to collect enough tissue about 30% of the time in women past menopause, The Post reported. Sometimes the uterine lining is too thin, or the cervix is too narrow for the instrument.

Meanwhile, endometrial cancer death rates are on the rise. That's partly because aggressive forms of the disease are becoming more common, The Post noted.

"Of all the cancers, this is one that is getting more and more cases being diagnosed every year," Dr. June Hou, a gynecologic oncologist at Columbia University Irving Medical Center in New York City, told The Post. She's leading the PinkDx study there.

Dying cancer cells in the uterus shed bits of genetic material that carry the tumor's fingerprint.

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