Diagnosis:

Up to 95% of women diagnosed with ovarian cancer will survive longer than 5 years if their cancers are treated before they have spread beyond the ovaries. Unfortunately, there are no screening tests for ovarian cancer that are the equivalent to mammography for early detection of breast cancer. Therefore, only about 25% of ovarian cancer cases are diagnosed at such early stages. It is possible to perform genetic screening in high-risk women, but this raises some complex issues.

Annual Gynecologic Checkup

Every woman should have a regular annual examination with her doctor that includes:

Pelvic examination. Routine exams called bimanual pelvic examinations are a reasonable precaution, although they are not perfect screening methods due to their low sensitivity. This exam can be performed two ways. In the more common method, the doctor inserts two fingers into the vagina while palpating the abdomen with the other hand. The other method, called a bimanual rectovaginal exam, involves the insertion of one finger into the vagina and another into the rectum.

Either exam enables the doctor to assess the size of the ovaries as well as the contour and mobility of the uterus and to feel for masses and growths. The rectovaginal exam may reveal rectal lesions that may otherwise go unnoticed and is particularly important for women over 50. A mass felt on pelvic exam often requires further evaluation by ultrasound and sometimes requires surgery to make a definitive diagnosis.

Unfortunately, ovarian cancer rarely produces changes that are detectable during a regular checkup.

Ruling out Benign Conditions

Many women are hospitalized each year in the United States because of ovarian growths or lesions. Many more women find out about some ovarian abnormality during their annual Ob/Gyn check up. The vast majority of conditions are noncancerous. They include:

• Benign functional ovarian cysts
• Abscesses and infection
• Fibroids

• Endometriosis
• Polycystic ovaries

• Ectopic pregnancies

• Meig syndrome (which involves a benign ovarian growth associated with fluid buildup in the abdomen and around the lungs)
• Ovarian hyperstimulation syndrome following fertility treatments.

Once a growth is detected, additional tests [below] may help the doctor gauge the risk for it being cancerous.

Transvaginal Ultrasound and Other Imaging Tests

Ultrasound. Ultrasound is a noninvasive diagnostic tool that can evaluate tumors and masses discovered during the rectovaginal exam:

• Typically, a probe is placed in the vagina and emits sound waves (ultrasound). The sound waves bounce off tissues, organs, and masses in the pelvic cavity. These echoes are collected and converted into a picture of the area called a sonogram.

• The ultrasound probe may also be placed on abdominal walls above the ovaries (transabdominal ultrasound), but it does not provide as clear a picture of the ovaries. Healthy tissue, fluid-filled cysts, and solid tumors produce different sound waves.

Ultrasound is not helpful for identifying early-stage ovarian cancer in high-risk women. (Researchers hope that blood tests for protein markers may eventually provide a better method for diagnosing early-stage ovarian cancer.) In addition, ultrasound does not provide enough specific information to reliably determine which abnormal masses are cancerous or noncancerous.

Other Imaging Techniques. Other imaging techniques are less common for the diagnosis or evaluation of suspected ovarian cancer but may help determine if cancer has spread to other parts of the body:

• Computed tomography (CT). Computed tomography records x-ray absorption rates of tissue and bone. These data is converted into clear images on a screen. CT scans help determine if cancer has spread to the lymph nodes, abdominal organs, abdominal fluid, and the liver.

• Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). MRI creates multiple cross-sectional images of the pelvis and abdominal organs, which are assembled into three-dimensional images. An MRI is not usually used to diagnose ovarian cancer, but may help determine if cancer has spread to the brain or spinal cord.

• Chest x-rays. Find cancer that has spread to the lungs.

CA-125 Blood Test

CA-125 is a protein that is secreted by ovarian cancer cells and is elevated in over 80% of patients with ovarian cancer. The CA-125 blood test is not approved for screening in the general population. Oncologists will usually only obtain a blood test for this protein if ovarian cancer is strongly suspected or has been diagnosed. In general, a CA-125 level is considered to be normal if it is less than 35 U/mL (microns per milliliter). The test may also be useful for evaluating tumor growth and predicting survival in patients with recurrent cancer who have been treated with topotecan or paclitaxel-carboplatin chemotherapy regimens.

The test is not useful for diagnosis or early screening, however. In about half of women with very early ovarian cancer, CA-125 levels are not elevated above the normal standard at all. Furthermore, an elevated level can be caused by a number of other conditions including:

• Endometriosis (which may be a risk factor for ovarian cancer)
• Fibroids
• Noncancerous ovarian cysts
• Pregnancy
• Pelvic inflammatory disease
• Liver diseases
• Other tumors, such as breast, colon, lung, and pancreatic cancers
• Age and menstrual status can also affect the levels of CA-125

Exploratory Surgery

An exploratory surgical procedure is required to confirm a diagnosis of ovarian cancer. It is also necessary to properly stage a patient, since the imaging tests may miss small implants of ovarian tumor within the pelvis and the abdominal cavity. Surgery may be laparotomy or a less-invasive laparoscopy. A gynecologic oncologist usually performs these procedures.

Laparatomy is an open-surgery procedure that requires general anesthesia. The oncolologist makes an incision from the pubic bone to the navel to explore the abdominal cavity. Laparascopy does not require general anesthesia and the oncologist uses only small incisions to insert a lighted instrument to examine the organs and evaluate the spread of the tumor. With both procedures, tissue samples (biopsies) can be removed for further testing.