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Ovarian cancer can be caught using an ultrasound scan

The technique was more than 90 percent accurate at distinguishing those that were malignant by their appearance on the images.

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Close up photo of lower back of young woman getting ultrasound test in clinic. Hand of a doctor holding ultrasound scanner
(Photo by Desizned via Shutterstock)

By Mark Waghorn via SWNS

Ovarian cancer can be caught using an ultrasound scan - avoiding invasive surgery to check for the disease, scientists found.

Lumps near the womb, known as adnexal lesions, can quickly turn into tumors or remain benign.

But a new breakthrough will help women avoid unnecessary surgery to diagnose the growths, according to a new study.

The technique was more than 90 percent accurate at distinguishing those that were malignant by their appearance on the images.

It uses high-frequency sound waves to create a picture of the ovaries, womb and surrounding structures.

Ovarian cancer strikes 7,400 women in the UK annually, claiming more than 4,000 deaths a year and swift diagnosis is key, scientists said.

It has been dubbed "the silent killer" as it often causes few distinct symptoms until it is advanced.

Nine in ten women with early-stage disease survive, but if it is picked up late, just one in ten live more than five years, experts said.

Currently around a third of women are diagnosed early with the majority only spotted at later stages.

Professor Akshya Gupta, a lead author of the study at the University of Rochester, New York, said: "Based on the characteristics that we see on ultrasound, we try to evaluate if a finding needs further work-up and where the patient should go from there.

"There is a lot of nuance to it because the lesions can be challenging to assess."

Ovarian cancer - that kills 15,000 women every year in the United States - is the deadliest of the gynaecologic cancers .

This latest study classifies adnexal lesions into one of two categories - classic or non-classic.

The former include commonly detected fluid-filled cysts that carry a very low risk of malignancy.

The latter are solid lesions that show up on Doppler ultrasound which works by measuring the reflection of the waves passing through blood.

It could help radiologists in a busy clinical practice more quickly make an assessment.

Current systems perform well but have multiple sub-categories that make them difficult for radiologists to master.

The US team looked at 878 women in their 30s, 40s, 50s and 60s who faced an average risk of ovarian cancer.

They had no family history or genetic markers linked with the disease. Of the 970 lesions, 53 - 6 percent - were malignant.

The classic versus non-classic ultrasound-based approach achieved a success rate of 92.5 percent in diagnosing malignancy.

Its frequency was less than one percent in lesions with classic ultrasound features.

In contrast, solid lesions had an overall malignancy frequency of 32 percent - rising to 50 percent over the 60s.

Prof Gupta added: "If you have something that follows the classic imaging patterns described for these lesions, then the risk of cancer is really low.

"If you have something that is not classic in appearance, then the presence of solid components and particularly the presence of Doppler blood flow is really what drives the risk of malignancy."

When a classic benign lesion is encountered, patients may be reassured a benign lesion is present, avoiding extensive further work.

If additional research supports the study findings, then the system could end up being a useful tool for radiologists that would spare many women the costs, stress and complications of surgery.

Added Prof Gupta: "Ultimately, we are hoping by using the ultrasound features we can triage which patients need follow-up imaging with ultrasound or MRI and which patients should be referred to surgery."

The findings offer valuable information on treatment. Ultrasound has not been proven as a screening tool for ovarian cancer.

These findings were published in Radiology.

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