Ovarian cancer screening using CA-125 and ultrasound is not effective
July 29, 2011
A group involved in the Prostate, Lung, Colorectal and Ovarian (PLCO) Cancer Screening Trial in the United States reported in the June 8 edition of the Journal of the American Medical Association that screening for ovarian cancer using the CA-125 blood test or transvaginal ultrasound was not effective in early detection of ovarian cancer. This is unfortunate as ovarian cancer typically causes no symptomsuntil it is well advanced and thus has a five-year survival rate of 30%. If the cancer is detected while still confined to the ovaries five-year survival is 92%. However screening using the combination of CA-125 and transvaginal ultrasound was found to have no effect on mortality from ovarian cancer in the 78,000 women involved in the study and in fact the screened women had significantly more adverse outcomes as a result of unnecessary surgical procedures carried out because of false positive screening tests.
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NOTE: This article is based on research that utilizes the sources cited here as well as the collective experience of the Lab Tests Online Editorial Review Board. This article is periodically reviewed by the Editorial Board and may be updated as a result of the review. Any new sources cited will be added to the list and distinguished from the original sources used.
The Prostate, Lung, Colorectal and Ovarian (PLCO) Cancer Screening Randomized Controlled Trial. Buys, Saundra S. ... [et al.]. Effect of Screening on Ovarian Cancer Mortality. JAMA. 2011;305(22):2295-2303. Available through: http://jama.ama-assn.org/content/305/22/2295.full.pdf+html. Accessed August 2, 2011.
