IS SONOGRAPHY A GOOD SCREENING TEST FOR OVARIAN CANCER?
Unfortunately, the answer is no. Sonography is a medical test that uses sound waves bounced off the ovaries to form a picture on a screen, much like the technology used for ship’s sonar. This technique was felt to be a promising method to detect growth in the ovaries that might be the beginning of a cancer. The hope was that this test would detect ovarian cancer before it had a chance to spread. Unfortunately, the test has a hard time distinguishing ovarian cancer from other cysts on the ovaries which are benign. These benign cysts are much more common than ovarian cancer, and most of them do not need to be treated at all. A study that illustrates this problem was conducted in England where an ad was placed in the paper for free ovarian cancer screening. Within a short period of time, 5700 women readily agreed to get this free testing. Of the 5700 women who had a sonogram of their ovaries performed, 361 of them had abnormal appearing ovaries. All 361 of these women then underwent major
Unfortunately, the answer is no. Sonography is a medical test that uses sound waves bounced off the ovaries to form a picture on a screen, much like the technology used for ship’s sonar. This technique was felt to be a promising method to detect growth in the ovaries that might be the beginning of a cancer. The hope was that this test would detect ovarian cancer before it had a chance to spread. Unfortunately, the test has a hard time distinguishing ovarian cancer from other cysts on the ovaries which are benign. These benign cysts are much more common than ovarian cancer, and most of them do not need to be treated at all.
