The Results of Mass Screening for Ovarian Cancer Using Transvaginal Sonography in the Northern Area of Akita City

Abstract

From April to December in 1995, we performed vaginal sonography in mass screening examinations, following cervical cytology and internal examination in the northern area of Akita city. Uteri and ovaries were delineated by transvaginal sonography, and an ovary was defined as abnormal if its deameter exceeded 3 cm or if it had a solid morphologic pattern.
An abnormal endometrium was defined as having a thickness of≥1.2cm in postmenopausal women, and≥2.0 cm in premenopausal women.
And another abnormality was detected on uterine echogram.
The total number of examinees who underwent transvaginal sonography were 1, 761, of whom 38 (2.2%) patients were detected to have ovarian abnormalities and 48 (2.7%), uterine abnormalities.
Further examination of the cases of ovarian abnormalities 30 cases of serous ovarian cyst; 1, dermoid cyst; 1, metastatic tumor from primary hepatocarcinoma; and 1, early stage of ovarian cancer.
And also further diagnoses of the uterine diseases confirmed myoma in 30 cases; endometrial hyperplasia, 10; pyometra, 4; and adenomyosis, 4. But there were no malignant endometrial diseases in this group.
Transvaginal sonography was easy to perform, accurately detected very small ovarian tumors, and was well accepted by patients. It seemed that transvaginal sonography is useful in detecting not only ovarial diseases but also endometrial disorders.