Is Screening for Ovarian Cancer Cost-Effective?
Future implications of these findings
The use of MMS doubled the detection of both invasive epithelial ovarian and tubal cancers, a massive breakthrough.
While there will likely be further studies to confirm their findings, if the MMS is definitively shown to lengthen the lives of those with ovarian cancer, it may begin to be seen as a valuable screening assessment by doctors and specialists who treat the disease.
The researchers summarize how crucial their study is in the prevention of ovarian cancer fatalities, "our data provide prospective evidence of the improvement that CA-125 velocity analysis brings to invasive epithelial ovarian or tubal cancers detection compared with a predetermined cutoff. The impact of such screening on ovarian cancer mortality will be known later in 2015 when follow-up is complete. However, our current findings are of immediate importance because they highlight the need to examine serial change in biomarker levels in the context of screening and early detection of cancer."
