Is a yearly pelvic ultrasound sufficient to protect against uterine/ ovarian cancer?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My mother died as a result of ovarian cancer. I have yearly pelvic ultrasounds. It's not a silver bullet, but it's the best option there is right now for early detection.

Can ovarian cancer be survived with early intervention?

Early detection of ovarian cancer is unlikely, unless it is an incidental finding.

The actress in the Marvel movies who was also in how I met your mother, is an ovarian cancer survivor. Yes, it can be survived, depending on a bunch of things.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My mother died as a result of ovarian cancer. I have yearly pelvic ultrasounds. It's not a silver bullet, but it's the best option there is right now for early detection.

Can ovarian cancer be survived with early intervention?

Early detection of ovarian cancer is unlikely, unless it is an incidental finding.

The actress in the Marvel movies who was also in how I met your mother, is an ovarian cancer survivor. Yes, it can be survived, depending on a bunch of
things.

My best friend is a survivor as well. It happens

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My mother died as a result of ovarian cancer. I have yearly pelvic ultrasounds. It's not a silver bullet, but it's the best option there is right now for early detection.

Can ovarian cancer be survived with early intervention?

Early detection of ovarian cancer is unlikely, unless it is an incidental finding.

The actress in the Marvel movies who was also in how I met your mother, is an ovarian cancer survivor. Yes, it can be survived, depending on a bunch of
things.

My best friend is a survivor as well. It happens

No one has said it cannot be survived. Of course it can. That is why the mortality rate is not 100%. What people are saying is that early detection doesn’t change much. Whether you die or not is already set in course. Breast cancer is often like this. You would think a mastectomy would change your risk of dying, right? In generally does not. If it is an aggressive cancer, it will come back whether you find it at stage 1 or not. And even removing your breast tissue does not really change that fact for many women.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I may be an outlier, but my doctor does a pelvic is every year. I am 38 and never did fertility treatments nor do I have PCOS. I don’t find it too uncomfortable and thought it was standard. He looks at ovaries and uterus. Always comments on how uterus looks good and ovaries are smaller than normal. We also do yearly Pap smear and breast exam…

Wouod you feel comfortable disclosing where you go? Your dr sounds great for my personality. I prefer a conservative approach due to my increased risk

There is no reliable screening for early detection. Ultrasounds aren’t it, sorry to tell you. They just aren’t reliable at detecting ovarian cancer early and don’t change outcomes. Read up on it.

https://amp.cancer.org/cancer/ovarian-cancer/detection-diagnosis-staging/detection.html

There is nothing on that page that says that US does not detect ovarian cancer. Show it to me. It doesn't make sense on a population level to do yearly US for women of average risk. Nonetheless US is what is used as the first step in detecting ovarian cancer. And yes many times early detection does make a difference. Not always but often. I'm a NP to this thread seeing lots of misinformation

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I may be an outlier, but my doctor does a pelvic is every year. I am 38 and never did fertility treatments nor do I have PCOS. I don’t find it too uncomfortable and thought it was standard. He looks at ovaries and uterus. Always comments on how uterus looks good and ovaries are smaller than normal. We also do yearly Pap smear and breast exam…

Wouod you feel comfortable disclosing where you go? Your dr sounds great for my personality. I prefer a conservative approach due to my increased risk

There is no reliable screening for early detection. Ultrasounds aren’t it, sorry to tell you. They just aren’t reliable at detecting ovarian cancer early and don’t change outcomes. Read up on it.

https://amp.cancer.org/cancer/ovarian-cancer/detection-diagnosis-staging/detection.html

There is nothing on that page that says that US does not detect ovarian cancer. Show it to me. It doesn't make sense on a population level to do yearly US for women of average risk. Nonetheless US is what is used as the first step in detecting ovarian cancer. And yes many times early detection does make a difference. Not always but often. I'm a NP to this thread seeing lots of misinformation

It says most ovarian masses detected on u/s are not cancerous- therefore it leads to a lot unnecessary biopsies (which carry risk) if used as a yearly routine screening. It also says, even if you are “high risk” using the ultrasound as a screening does not increase survival rate if ovarian cancer is found

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I may be an outlier, but my doctor does a pelvic is every year. I am 38 and never did fertility treatments nor do I have PCOS. I don’t find it too uncomfortable and thought it was standard. He looks at ovaries and uterus. Always comments on how uterus looks good and ovaries are smaller than normal. We also do yearly Pap smear and breast exam…

Wouod you feel comfortable disclosing where you go? Your dr sounds great for my personality. I prefer a conservative approach due to my increased risk

There is no reliable screening for early detection. Ultrasounds aren’t it, sorry to tell you. They just aren’t reliable at detecting ovarian cancer early and don’t change outcomes. Read up on it.

https://amp.cancer.org/cancer/ovarian-cancer/detection-diagnosis-staging/detection.html

There is nothing on that page that says that US does not detect ovarian cancer. Show it to me. It doesn't make sense on a population level to do yearly US for women of average risk. Nonetheless US is what is used as the first step in detecting ovarian cancer. And yes many times early detection does make a difference. Not always but often. I'm a NP to this thread seeing lots of misinformation

It says most ovarian masses detected on u/s are not cancerous- therefore it leads to a lot unnecessary biopsies (which carry risk) if used as a yearly routine screening. It also says, even if you are “high risk” using the ultrasound as a screening does not increase survival rate if ovarian cancer is found

I’d still rather have a false positive than not know I have ovarian cancer. Yes false positive sucks but dying of cancer sucks more. I had a polyp seen on an us recently. The biopsy was like half my day and negative. It impacted me in no way, unlike my actual metastatic thyroid cancer that was detected via an us they also do not give routinely and for which I had no symptoms and was found incidentally. False positives are not a good enough reason to throw the baby out w the bath water

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I may be an outlier, but my doctor does a pelvic is every year. I am 38 and never did fertility treatments nor do I have PCOS. I don’t find it too uncomfortable and thought it was standard. He looks at ovaries and uterus. Always comments on how uterus looks good and ovaries are smaller than normal. We also do yearly Pap smear and breast exam…

Wouod you feel comfortable disclosing where you go? Your dr sounds great for my personality. I prefer a conservative approach due to my increased risk

There is no reliable screening for early detection. Ultrasounds aren’t it, sorry to tell you. They just aren’t reliable at detecting ovarian cancer early and don’t change outcomes. Read up on it.

https://amp.cancer.org/cancer/ovarian-cancer/detection-diagnosis-staging/detection.html

There is nothing on that page that says that US does not detect ovarian cancer. Show it to me. It doesn't make sense on a population level to do yearly US for women of average risk. Nonetheless US is what is used as the first step in detecting ovarian cancer. And yes many times early detection does make a difference. Not always but often. I'm a NP to this thread seeing lots of misinformation

It says most ovarian masses detected on u/s are not cancerous- therefore it leads to a lot unnecessary biopsies (which carry risk) if used as a yearly routine screening. It also says, even if you are “high risk” using the ultrasound as a screening does not increase survival rate if ovarian cancer is found

I’d still rather have a false positive than not know I have ovarian cancer. Yes false positive sucks but dying of cancer sucks more. I had a polyp seen on an us recently. The biopsy was like half my day and negative. It impacted me in no way, unlike my actual metastatic thyroid cancer that was detected via an us they also do not give routinely and for which I had no symptoms and was found incidentally. False positives are not a good enough reason to throw the baby out w the bath water

But you are missing that even if it does detect “something” it does not improve survival odds. This is not the equivalent of a mammogram or colonoscopy

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My mother died as a result of ovarian cancer. I have yearly pelvic ultrasounds. It's not a silver bullet, but it's the best option there is right now for early detection.

Can ovarian cancer be survived with early intervention?

Early detection of ovarian cancer is unlikely, unless it is an incidental finding.

The actress in the Marvel movies who was also in how I met your mother, is an ovarian cancer survivor. Yes, it can be survived, depending on a bunch of things.

There’s a type of ovarian cancer that shows up in young women in their twenties that is slow-growing and treatable. It’s not the same version that women with genetic predispositions get in their 40s or the type that shows up in their 60s. It’s crappy but it’s true. Ovarian cancer is often not visible on imaging studies. I had a friend who went in for a prophylactic oophorectomy and they found ovarian cancer during her surgery. She had multiple imaging studies done beforehand and it never appeared. Ovarian cancer sucks and is a silent killer for a reason. Maybe someday good screening tools will be available, but they just don’t exist right now.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I may be an outlier, but my doctor does a pelvic is every year. I am 38 and never did fertility treatments nor do I have PCOS. I don’t find it too uncomfortable and thought it was standard. He looks at ovaries and uterus. Always comments on how uterus looks good and ovaries are smaller than normal. We also do yearly Pap smear and breast exam…

Wouod you feel comfortable disclosing where you go? Your dr sounds great for my personality. I prefer a conservative approach due to my increased risk

There is no reliable screening for early detection. Ultrasounds aren’t it, sorry to tell you. They just aren’t reliable at detecting ovarian cancer early and don’t change outcomes. Read up on it.

https://amp.cancer.org/cancer/ovarian-cancer/detection-diagnosis-staging/detection.html

There is nothing on that page that says that US does not detect ovarian cancer. Show it to me. It doesn't make sense on a population level to do yearly US for women of average risk. Nonetheless US is what is used as the first step in detecting ovarian cancer. And yes many times early detection does make a difference. Not always but often. I'm a NP to this thread seeing lots of misinformation

It says most ovarian masses detected on u/s are not cancerous- therefore it leads to a lot unnecessary biopsies (which carry risk) if used as a yearly routine screening. It also says, even if you are “high risk” using the ultrasound as a screening does not increase survival rate if ovarian cancer is found

I’d still rather have a false positive than not know I have ovarian cancer. Yes false positive sucks but dying of cancer sucks more. I had a polyp seen on an us recently. The biopsy was like half my day and negative. It impacted me in no way, unlike my actual metastatic thyroid cancer that was detected via an us they also do not give routinely and for which I had no symptoms and was found incidentally. False positives are not a good enough reason to throw the baby out w the bath water

But you are missing that even if it does detect “something” it does not improve survival odds. This is not the equivalent of a mammogram or colonoscopy

This. By the time ovarian cancer is visible on ultrasound, it is too late. Your survival years are the same. It sucks. Yearly ultrasounds don’t do anything for ovarian cancer survival rates no matter what awesome stuff ultrasounds can detect on other areas of the body like the breast or the thyroid.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My mother died as a result of ovarian cancer. I have yearly pelvic ultrasounds. It's not a silver bullet, but it's the best option there is right now for early detection.

Can ovarian cancer be survived with early intervention?

Early detection of ovarian cancer is unlikely, unless it is an incidental finding.

The actress in the Marvel movies who was also in how I met your mother, is an ovarian cancer survivor. Yes, it can be survived, depending on a bunch of things.

There’s a type of ovarian cancer that shows up in young women in their twenties that is slow-growing and treatable. It’s not the same version that women with genetic predispositions get in their 40s or the type that shows up in their 60s. It’s crappy but it’s true. Ovarian cancer is often not visible on imaging studies. I had a friend who went in for a prophylactic oophorectomy and they found ovarian cancer during her surgery. She had multiple imaging studies done beforehand and it never appeared. Ovarian cancer sucks and is a silent killer for a reason. Maybe someday good screening tools will be available, but they just don’t exist right now.

Was that prophylactic surgery for BRCA2?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My mother died as a result of ovarian cancer. I have yearly pelvic ultrasounds. It's not a silver bullet, but it's the best option there is right now for early detection.

Can ovarian cancer be survived with early intervention?

Early detection of ovarian cancer is unlikely, unless it is an incidental finding.

The actress in the Marvel movies who was also in how I met your mother, is an ovarian cancer survivor. Yes, it can be survived, depending on a bunch of things.

There’s a type of ovarian cancer that shows up in young women in their twenties that is slow-growing and treatable. It’s not the same version that women with genetic predispositions get in their 40s or the type that shows up in their 60s. It’s crappy but it’s true. Ovarian cancer is often not visible on imaging studies. I had a friend who went in for a prophylactic oophorectomy and they found ovarian cancer during her surgery. She had multiple imaging studies done beforehand and it never appeared. Ovarian cancer sucks and is a silent killer for a reason. Maybe someday good screening tools will be available, but they just don’t exist right now.

Was that prophylactic surgery for BRCA2?

I honestly don’t remember if she had the genetic marker. What she had was bad family history. The mother died of it in her early 40s. There were four daughters. One daughter developed abdominal symptoms that landed her in the ER and her advanced cancer was found. Two of her sisters opted for prophylactic oophorectomies at that point. One had the surgery and was fine, the other had the surgery and cancer was found on the table. The fourth sister delayed because she still hoped to have a family one day (she was the youngest and in her thirties).

The two with cancer eventually passed away. I was actually closest to the one who had the prophylactic oophorectomy and was fine in the end. I also lost my mom to ovarian cancer and have a poor family history of ovarian and breast cancer, though no known genetic markers. They only know so much though, and it wouldn’t surprise me if they find other genetic links down the road. I shared an ethnic heritage with that family and I just think our genetics are not as well-studied as some others. I had an oophorectomy in my late 40s, after treatment for hormone-driven breast cancer.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My mother died as a result of ovarian cancer. I have yearly pelvic ultrasounds. It's not a silver bullet, but it's the best option there is right now for early detection.

Can ovarian cancer be survived with early intervention?

Early detection of ovarian cancer is unlikely, unless it is an incidental finding.

The actress in the Marvel movies who was also in how I met your mother, is an ovarian cancer survivor. Yes, it can be survived, depending on a bunch of things.

There’s a type of ovarian cancer that shows up in young women in their twenties that is slow-growing and treatable. It’s not the same version that women with genetic predispositions get in their 40s or the type that shows up in their 60s. It’s crappy but it’s true. Ovarian cancer is often not visible on imaging studies. I had a friend who went in for a prophylactic oophorectomy and they found ovarian cancer during her surgery. She had multiple imaging studies done beforehand and it never appeared. Ovarian cancer sucks and is a silent killer for a reason. Maybe someday good screening tools will be available, but they just don’t exist right now.

Was that prophylactic surgery for BRCA2?

I honestly don’t remember if she had the genetic marker. What she had was bad family history. The mother died of it in her early 40s. There were four daughters. One daughter developed abdominal symptoms that landed her in the ER and her advanced cancer was found. Two of her sisters opted for prophylactic oophorectomies at that point. One had the surgery and was fine, the other had the surgery and cancer was found on the table. The fourth sister delayed because she still hoped to have a family one day (she was the youngest and in her thirties).

The two with cancer eventually passed away. I was actually closest to the one who had the prophylactic oophorectomy and was fine in the end. I also lost my mom to ovarian cancer and have a poor family history of ovarian and breast cancer, though no known genetic markers. They only know so much though, and it wouldn’t surprise me if they find other genetic links down the road. I shared an ethnic heritage with that family and I just think our genetics are not as well-studied as some others. I had an oophorectomy in my late 40s, after treatment for hormone-driven breast cancer.

Sorry to hear. Hope your health troubles are all in the past now.

[Anonymous]

This thread is absolutely chock full of fake news.
TVS can absolutely spot ovarian cancer before it spreads to other organs. It just cannot distinguish between benign and malignant masses. Hence the need for a secondary blood test which is being developed. Sheesh
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3873201/

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:There’s also removing the Fallopian tubes to reduce ovarian cancer risk. https://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/health/treatment-tests-and-therapies/salpingectomy

I asked about this since I have PCOS and history of complex cysts, I worry about ovarian cancer. my OB was supportive about tubal removal, I asked to have it done during my last birth (planned C). Insurance wouldn’t pay for it at the same time as a C-section bc of unspecified risks but would pay if I went back separately. So that is kind of disappointing.

Anyone out here had a salpingectomy for preventative reasons?

I have BRCA1 and had my breasts, ovaries, tubes and uterus removed preventatively. For me its been a good decision for the peace of mind i have. I still screen CA125 annually.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This thread is absolutely chock full of fake news.
TVS can absolutely spot ovarian cancer before it spreads to other organs. It just cannot distinguish between benign and malignant masses. Hence the need for a secondary blood test which is being developed. Sheesh
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3873201/

Not fake news and the blood test is only marginally helpful too. A positive just means you need even more testing and you could have cancer with a negative blood test. It is not indicative of cancer also not recommended as a reliable form of screening. But keep on telling us it is fake news

https://my.clevelandclinic.org/health/diagnostics/17830-ca-125-blood-test