Risks and benefits of screening asymptomatic women for ovarian cancer: A systematic review and meta-analysis

- Screening asymptomatic women for ovarian cancer does not lead to earlier diagnosis or reduced mortality.
- Screening causes harm through unnecessary surgery, and worry from false-positive testing.
- Transvaginal ultrasound leads to the highest rate of unnecessary surgery from screening.

ObjectiveWe performed a systematic review and meta-analysis to quantify risks and benefits of screening asymptomatic women for ovarian cancer.MethodsWe searched MEDLINE, EMBASE, CINAHL, and Cochrane CENTRAL, without language restrictions, from January 1, 1979 to February 5, 2012. Eligible studies randomly assigned asymptomatic women to screening or usual care. Two reviewers independently screened studies for eligibility, extracted data using a standardized, piloted extraction form, and assessed bias and strength of inference for each outcome using the GRADE framework. Chance-corrected agreement was calculated at each step, and disagreements were resolved through consensus.ResultsTen randomized trials proved eligible. Screening did not reduce all-cause mortality (relative risk (RR) = 1.0, 95% confidence interval (CI) 0.96-1.06), ovarian cancer specific mortality (RR = 1.08, 95% CI 0.84-1.38), or risk of diagnosis at an advanced stage (RR of diagnosis at FIGO stages III-IV = 0.86, 95% CI 0.68-1.11). Transvaginal ultrasound resulted in a mean of 38 surgeries per ovarian cancer detected (95% CI 15.7-178.1) while screening with CA-125 led to 4 surgeries per ovarian cancer detected (95% CI 2.7-4.5). Surgery was associated with severe complications in 6% of women (95% CI 1%-11%). Quality of life was not affected by screening; however, women with false-positive results had increased cancer-specific distress compared to those with normal results (odds ratio (OR) = 2.22, 95% CI 1.23-3.99).ConclusionsScreening asymptomatic women for ovarian cancer does not reduce mortality or diagnosis at an advanced stage and is associated with unnecessary surgery.