Ultrasound Better than Symptom Analysis in Diagnosing Ovarian Cancer

Investigators recently compared symptom analysis to ultrasound in predicting ovarian cancer. They selected 272 women participating in yearly transvaginal screening (TVS) from 31,748 women enrolled in a free screening project, comparing symptom results to ultrasound and surgical pathology findings.

The investigators, from the University of Kentucky Chandler Medical Center-Markey Cancer Center (Lexington, USA), discovered that TVS performed better than symptoms analysis for detecting malignancies (73.3% vs. 20% sensitivity). While symptoms analysis performed better for distinguishing benign tumors (91.3% versus 74.4% specificity), adding symptom analysis to TVS actually resulted in poorer identification of malignancy (sensitivity = 16.7%), even as it improved the ability to distinguish benign tumors (specificity = 97.9%).

The researchers, who published their findings online July 13, 2009 (print issue date: August 15, 2009) in the journal Cancer, reported that the data indicate that while symptoms do identify ovarian malignancies, they are not as accurate as TVS. They added that informative symptoms could be expected to be absent in 80% of ovarian malignancies.

Related Links:
University of Kentucky Chandler Medical Center-Markey Cancer Center