For years, women have been told that early detection of cancer saves lives. Not always. A definitive new study finds that screening healthy women for ovarian cancer — one of the deadliest and most-feared of malignancies — actually does more harm than good.
In an 18-year study of 78,216 women, those randomly assigned to be screened for ovarian cancer died at the same rate as women who weren't, according to research released Wednesday in advance of the annual meeting of the American Society of Clinical Oncology.
The two tests used to screen postmenopausal women — ultrasound and a blood test called CA-125 — aren't very accurate and often produced false alarms, the study shows. Many benign conditions, such as an ovarian cyst or a twisted fallopian tube, can cause elevations in the CA-125 protein, says Otis Brawley, chief medical officer of the American Cancer Society, which doesn't recommend ovarian screening.
Those false alarms cause more than just anxiety. Nearly 3,300 healthy women had unnecessary surgery and 166 developed surgical complictions, according to the study, which was by the National Cancer Institute.
None of the complications was fatal, says co-author Claudine Isaacs of Georgetown University's Lombardi Comprehensive Cancer Center.
But surgical complications —which can range from infections to blood clots in the lungs — can be serious, Brawley says.
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