Ovarian cancer screening: Supplement to expert panel summary of evidence (2016)

March 31, 2016

Read this March 2016 supplement for an update on the 2011 ovarian cancer expert panel about randomized controlled trials of ovarian cancer screening

This document provides an update on results published in 2015 from the UK Collaborative Trial of Ovarian Cancer Screening (UKCTOCS) randomized controlled trial on ovarian cancer screening.

When the document on this topic (Ovarian cancer screening: Expert panel summary of evidence) was completed by the Partnership in October 2011, only one of the three main randomized controlled trials on ovarian screening had published about ovarian cancer deaths. The US National Cancer Institute’s Prostate, Lung, Colorectal, and Ovarian (PLCO) Cancer Screening Trial had reported in 2011 that there was no impact on ovarian cancer death rates from ovarian cancer screening with CA 125 and transvaginal ultrasound.

In December 2015, after 14 years from the time of randomization, the ovarian cancer death rates from the UK Collaborative Trial of Ovarian Cancer Screening (UKCTOCS) were published online by the Lancet journal.

This document’s table shows the findings from the impact of screening on ovarian cancer deaths, compared with no screening. Based on the evidence available, the expert panel concluded that routine ovarian cancer screening for the general population is not recommended at this time.

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