Some experts and the FDA say that a test that finds ovarian cancer early is "premature and it has not been proved to work."

Since the test may have a few percent of false-positives, the nay-sayers bleat about the "danger" of unnecessary surgery. The current 5Y survival rate for women diagnosed with ovarian cancer is about 45%. Cases diagnosed early have a 5YS of about 90%. This test is alleged to have specificity of over 90%, so there should be fewer than 10% of women who get "unnecessary surgery," especially if use of the test is limited to high-risk women. (The only people who hate "unnecessary surgery" are those who have to pay.) But the death rate from an exploratory laparotomy is nil, compared with the over 50% death rate from late diagnosed ovarian CA. Just WHAT are these guys thinking, in trying to suppress the use of this test? Whose interests are they serving?

For more discussion, please see: "Ovarian Cancer Test May be Premature" -- Published on MDNG.com, Wednesday, August 27, 2008