An ultrasound test which detected 96% of ovarian cancers in postmenopausal women should replace the current standard of care test in the UK, according to a new study.
The research, funded by the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) and led by Professor Sudha Sundar from the University of Birmingham, compared all tests currently available for diagnosing ovarian cancer in postmenopausal women in an accuracy study of high quality diagnostic tests.
Of the six diagnostic tests studied, the IOTA ADNEX model, which analyzes ultrasound features, had the best accuracy of all and was able to detect up to 96% of women with ovarian cancer.
The ultrasound test significantly exceeds the current standard of care in the UK and therefore the team recommends that the ADNEX IOTA ultrasound model replaces the current standard of care test called risk of malignancy (RMI1) in the UK, which identifies 83% of ovarian cancers.
Medical staff, trained in quality assurance
“This is the first time a head-to-head study of all available tests for ovarian cancer has been conducted in the same population. Here we studied their use in symptomatic, postmenopausal women who are most at risk of this cancer. Our study found that the IOTA ADNEX ultrasound protocol had the highest sensitivity for detecting ovarian cancer compared to the standard of care and the other test,” explained Sudha Sundar, Professor at the University of Birmingham.
The research team notes that the IOTA ADNEX model achieved an accuracy of 96% when used by NHS medical staff who were properly trained and briefed on quality assurance, according to EurekAlert.
As the majority of scans worldwide are carried out by sonographers rather than gynaecologists, researchers have created free online introductory resources for NHS staff to undertake specialist training in ultrasound and achieve certification and quality assurance.
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Source: www.descopera.ro
