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

[Anonymous]

I’m 45 and have my dr order this for me yearly as ovarian and uterine cancer are so silent and quite common. However it’s not ‘recommended’ so I’m not sure if this is actually the best approach. My dr is extremely cautious so happy to order this but would love to hear others thoughts and experiences. I had a different cancer this year so am very anxious about prevention/ early detection

[Anonymous]

Does ovarian run in your family? It is very difficult to detect and there’s no good screening options, even for people with genetic risk.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Does ovarian run in your family? It is very difficult to detect and there’s no good screening options, even for people with genetic risk.

It doesn’t but I’m just very cautious especially since dealing with another cancer

[Anonymous]

I’m curious why you think ovarian and uterine cancers are “quite common”? That wasn’t my understanding at all, and doing a quick google search says both of these are rare. Do you mean you’re at a higher risk because of the other cancer you had? Not trying to be difficult here, just trying to understand where you’re getting your stats from.

[Anonymous]

I think it would help find something earlier than you would without one. And given your history I understand wanting to do it for peace of mind.

[Anonymous]

I do one e dry 5 years due to PCOs and having done fertility treatment . I do get cysts as well

[Anonymous]

Are you paying for this out of pocket? Do you still have your period? I think at least with uterine cancer, there are signs, so it’s not really silent.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I’m curious why you think ovarian and uterine cancers are “quite common”? That wasn’t my understanding at all, and doing a quick google search says both of these are rare. Do you mean you’re at a higher risk because of the other cancer you had? Not trying to be difficult here, just trying to understand where you’re getting your stats from.

??
Ovarian cancer alone is 5th most common cancer

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I do one e dry 5 years due to PCOs and having done fertility treatment . I do get cysts as well

Op - yes same - ivf and pcos. Was your drs recommendation every 5 years? And they felt that was a short enough interval to catch things early?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I’m 45 and have my dr order this for me yearly as ovarian and uterine cancer are so silent and quite common. However it’s not ‘recommended’ so I’m not sure if this is actually the best approach. My dr is extremely cautious so happy to order this but would love to hear others thoughts and experiences. I had a different cancer this year so am very anxious about prevention/ early detection

I can understand your caution, given that you faced cancer this year. However, your post also says that you have your doctor order a pelvic ultrasound "yearly", which indicates to me that you've had this arrangement in place for a while.

It sounds like you have health anxiety and might benefit from treating that, absent other risk factors for uterine/ovarian cancer. The other thing I'd ask yourself is how you decided that this particular preventative treatment path was the right one for you - and really examine that information critically (or ask someone whose opinion your trust to do so).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’m curious why you think ovarian and uterine cancers are “quite common”? That wasn’t my understanding at all, and doing a quick google search says both of these are rare. Do you mean you’re at a higher risk because of the other cancer you had? Not trying to be difficult here, just trying to understand where you’re getting your stats from.

??
Ovarian cancer alone is 5th most common cancer

No…? At least not according to the CDC (or is that discredited now)?

https://gis.cdc.gov/Cancer/USCS/#/AtAGlance/

Ovarian cancer isn’t even on the list of top 10 cancers by new cases (although uterus is, at #4). It is the 5th deadliest. So yeah, that tracks with what I’d previously thought, it’s very deadly but not very common.

[Anonymous]

Maybe you could get a Galleri test to ease your mind? It’s a new early detection blood test for a number of different cancers.

[Anonymous]

Cancer researcher, to answer your question, maybe and maybe not. There are cancers so aggressive that early intervention would not prevent death. If you have that cancer, you will not be spared.

[Anonymous]

I thought that many ovarian/ uterine cancers did not reliably present on ultrasound in early stages anyways, hence the lack of recommendation for routine screening in this way.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I thought that many ovarian/ uterine cancers did not reliably present on ultrasound in early stages anyways, hence the lack of recommendation for routine screening in this way.

Correct. There’s no good screening program available, even for high-risk patients.