Diagnosis and Staging of Ca. Ovary: A comparative study between Computed Tomography and Ultrasound

Abstract

PURPOSE; The purpose was to assess the sensitivities and specificities of CT & US in the diagnosis & staging of ovarian cancer. MATERIAL AND METHODS:  The study was conducted in Ziauddin Medical University and Hospital (Diagnostic Radiology Department). This study was a prospective, cross sectional comparative study completed during 16 months, and carried out for 50 patients. RESULTS: Ovarian masses were surgically removed in all 50 patients. The cancers were staged as follows: 02 were stage I, 29 were stage – II, 11 were stage – III, & 08 were stage – IV. Ultrasound was more sensitive (100%) but less specific (27%) than CT scan (50%, 87%respectively) for the detection of stage I. CT was more sensitive (75%) and almost equally specific (80%) than ultrasound (10%, 95%respectively), for stage II. CT was more sensitive (54%) and almost equally specific (97%) than ultrasound (27%, 100%respectively) stage III. CT was more sensitive (100%) and almost equally specific (95%) than ultrasound (75%, 100%respectively), for stage IV. CONCLUSION; Our study shows that CT is consistently better than US in ovarian cancer staging, especially for stage II, III, and IV.

KEY WORDS: Ovarian carcinoma, Ultrasound, Computed tomography, Surgical staging.