Hopes that screening for ovarian cancer will reduce the mortality from the disease are likely to be over-stated, a new analysis has indicated.
Researchers at the Duke University Medical Center in North Carolina constructed a simulation model that incorporated epidemiological and clinical data, including the United Kingdom Collaborative Trial of Ovarian Cancer Screening.
“The positive predictive value of a strategy of annual population-based screening at ages 50 to 85 years was 14%,” the analysis concluded.
The mortality reduction using annual post-menopausal screening was estimated at 15% if ovarian cancer was regarded as a homogeneous disease, and only 11% if screening was able to differentiate between indolent and aggressive forms.
“The analysis suggested that reductions in ovarian cancer mortality using available screening technologies are likely...
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