IS THERE ANY SCREENING PROGRAM THAT WORKS FOR OVARIAN CANCER?
(August 2001) According to Healthful Life and a recent review in the Annals of Internal Medicine, the answer is no, but there is hope that in the next five years, we will have a screening test that detects ovarian cancer early enough to make a difference. That would be very useful because ovarian cancer is till a deadly disease – 23,000 new cases and 14,000 deaths a year. If ovarian cancer is detected in its early stages, at least 80 percent survive five years. The issue is how to make an early diagnosis. Routine pelvic examination is not effective. There are three screening tests under investigation. Two are blood tests – an older one called CA-125 and a newer one, LPA. CA-125 has been around for about a decade and, by itself, is not good enough because there are too many false positives and it misses a considerable percentage of early cancers. An intravaginal test based on sound waves (transvaginal ultrasonography) looks interesting, but it has major problems in that it misses a sign
