IS PELVIC ULTRASOUND A GOOD SCREENING TEST FOR OVARIAN CANCER?
Unfortunately, the answer is no. Pelvic ultrasound, or 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 almost always benign. These benign cysts are much more common than ovarian cancer, and most of them do not need to be treated at all. (Please visit http://www.parkermd.com/ovarian-cysts.htm for more information on ovarian cysts and pelvic ultrasound) 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 testin
