"Ellen Pompeo gives terrible advice about ovarian cancer screening on The Ellen Show"

[Luci22]

On a recent Ellen Degeneres show (on fundraising for breast cancer) the actress Ellen Pompeo incorrectly gave advice on ovarian cancer screening.

Dr. Jen Gunter had to correct her on twitter. Link: drjengunter.wordpress.com/2...

Well-meaning advice, but incorrect to say the least. Greater ovarian cancer awareness is needed.

[grammeejill]

OMG. I heard what she said and almost jumped into the TV to strangle her! I am glad someone got to her and corrected her. We all know how hard it is to detect and diagnose ovarian cancer! That was ignorant and highly irresponsible of her.

[Luci22 in reply to grammeejill]

I think many people just don't know the facts which is why more awareness is needed and even then it's hard to detect. Better screening tools, as this community knows is greatly lacking too. Although she was way off, at least she had good intentions. My great hope is that this event can serve as a lesson and put a spotlight on these and other issues for women with ovarian cancer and lead to positive changes 🌻🌻🌻

[Grandma16]

From my personal experience, I don’t totally disagree with her. This spring I was diagnosed with early breast cancer, lumpectomy done and 16 radiation treatments. Late August a full body CT scan was done for baseline and make sure nothing else was going on. A 2 inch cyst was found on my right ovary and ultrasound was recommended to get a good view to get a better idea of the cyst structure. It was called a complex cyst, given a 41.6 % likelihood of cancer and that there was no blood flow to the cyst. Only right ovary looked to be involved. Doctor said I was very lucky it was found so early! The CA 125 test was done and I was in the high normal range and learned that 50% of women with early ovarian cancer have numbers in the high normal range. Surgery had to be done to remove and biopsy, until then wouldn’t know if benign, malignant or borderline malignant. I chose to have total hysterectomy to lessen potential for future problems. Surgery was done last Tuesday and went well. Initial pathology report shows borderline malignant and so no chemo is required. I have post op appointment Friday and will review final pathology report. Personally, I’m very glad the medical personnel were proactive and took all of those steps! I feel they were all needed in determining my overall care and future health. I do agree that currently there is no truly effective screening for ovarian cancer!

[Luci22 in reply to Grandma16]

You were very lucky to have it caught early, that is great. It doesn't often happen that way for most women but you are right there needs to be greater screening. Interesting personal fact; after my mom was diagnosed in the hospital, they immediately ran an MRI and still saw nothing wrong with her ovaries on the images. Even if she had come sooner, it would still not have been detected even by an MRI.

all the best!

[bluepeterella in reply to Luci22]

Same here - after surgery I was told that the ovaries themselves were not enlarged, even though cancer had by then spread to my omentum. Nothing would have been detected by ultrasound so I was lucky to have been given a CT scan.

[Neona]

For myself I believe an ultrasound would have caught my cancer at an early stage when I was first found to be severely anaemic. However my ca 125 was normal so I was not offered a scan. 2 years later I was diagosed stage 3c clear cell. I do feel that thete is a place for ultrasound in screening.

[Coldethyl]

I think that for certain groups of women routine CA125 and u/s has a place even if it may also pick up false positives and miss some that have oc - my own type was result of development of atypical endometriosis which would have been picked up in the rising CA125 numbers and I may have had ultrasound before it had spread! It’s a difficult one but sometimes I feel women are dismissed with “ a it’s too hard to screen for .” Mammograms are not infallible but their use has become an acceptable part of routine healthcare for women at increased risk due to age or family history so I can’t see why similar couldn’t be set up for ovarian c for those at higher risk