Characteristics of persistent ovarian masses in asymptomatic women

Persistent ovarian masses have been found in a substantial proportion of 5479 self-selected asymptomatic women who were screened for early ovarian neoplasia. Each woman was scheduled to undergo three ultrasound screens (consisting of 1-12 scans) to detect regressing and non-regressing masses. A total of 14,594 screens (15,977 scans) was performed. The average interval between successive screens was 595 days (range 214-1134 days). Overall, 650 screens (4.4%; 10.1% of women) produced a positive result which became negative with successive scans (four times more frequently in pre- than naturally postmenopausal women), and 338 screens (2.3%; 5.9% of women) had a final positive result (at least one ovary that was grossly abnormal or contained a persistent mass). Biopsies were taken from 336 ovaries (89% of total, 271 women). Overall, 134 tumour-like conditions and 119 benign tumours were identified. The detection rate of tumour-like conditions was 1.5 times higher in premenopausal than naturally postmenopausal women, whereas the proportion of tumours to normal ovaries was similar in both groups. Overall, 51% of tumour-like conditions and 70% of all tumours were detected at screen 1. Four women had metastatic ovarian cancer (three at screen 1, one at screen 2; two were bilateral). Five women (0.1%) had a primary malignant tumour (two at screen 1, three at screen 2; four were stage 1a and one was stage 1b). All women are being monitored to obtain additional information about the significance of the findings.