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Summary There is no method of screening for ovarian cancer that is effective to cut deaths, says research.
“Tests commonly recommended to screen healthy women for ovarian cancer do more harm than good and should not be performed,” reports The New York Times. Not only do the screenings “not lower the death rate from the disease . . . they yield many false-positive results that lead to unnecessary operations with high complication rates.”The Times goes on to quote Dr. Virginia A. Moyer, the chairwoman of the panel making the recommendation, the United States Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF), saying, “There is no existing method of screening for ovarian cancer that is effective in reducing deaths . . . In fact, a high percentage of women who undergo screening experience false-positive test results and consequently may be subjected to unnecessary harms, such as major surgery.”ABC News added that, “In recommending against routine screening of asymptomatic women, the USPSTF cited results of the NIH-sponsored Prostate, Lung, Colorectal, and Ovarian (PLCO) Cancer Screening Trial, which showed that screening with CA-125 [the serum tumor marker cancer antigen] and transvaginal ultrasound did not reduce a womans risk of death from ovarian cancer, as compared with unscreened women.”
