Ovarian cancer screens lead to false positives, unnecessary surgeries
9th Nov 2005, 17:37 GMT
In a recent Utah study conducted to investigage whether two methods of screening for ovarian cancer were effective, researchers concluded that they should not be used on the general population. According to this article in Forbes , the tests -- transvaginal ultrasound (TVU) and a screen for a protein biomarker called CA-125--yielded such a high number of false positives, along with cancers with were not malignant, that 570 women ended up having surgery as the result of such screenings. A whopping 541 of those women did not actually have cancer. There is some good news in the study, though. Previously, researchers claimed that ovarian cancer was asymptomatic, which is why such a large number of women with ovarian cancer die of it: It is often discovered too late to treat. However, now researchers tell women who have abdominal changes, discomfort during sex, and urinary symptoms, to be checked for ovarian cancer. New reports show that 90% of women with ovarian cancer actually did have some sort of symptoms. Read Permalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | Comments
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