Cancer Genetics Network Ovarian Screening Study: Physician practice patterns in screening women at high risk for ovarian cancer: 2001 vs 2008

The Cancer Genetics Network (CGN) began an Ovarian Cancer Screening Study in high-risk women in October 2001. The study utilizes longitudinal CA125 to screen healthy women with a family history of ovarian cancer using a statistical algorithm (ROCA: Risk of Ovarian Cancer Algorithm) to detect elevated or changing levels of serum CA125. The resulting calculated risk determined the study recommendation (re-test in 3 months, TVS, or referral to surgery). Preliminary searches failed to identify established guidelines for screening this population of women. To better understand how recruiting physicians were treating this population, a survey was designed to gather information on current practice patterns. The questionnaire included demographic information (age, sex, board certification), identification of tools used to classify a woman as high-risk, use of CA125 testing and transvaginal ultrasound (TVS) in screening, and use of prophylactic salpingo-oophorectomy (PSO) and hormone replacement therapy (HRT) in patient management. At study initiation, the survey was distributed to the participating centers. Nineteen Principal investigators and co-investigators from twelve of sixteen recruiting CGN academic genetics research centers participated. In order to determine if practice patterns have changed over the last seven years, a follow-up survey was distributed to the participating centers. To date, thirteen surveys, representing thirteen centers have been returned. A comparison of the respondents indicates they are the same cohort of physicians, based on median age, years in practice, and specialties reported. A detailed comparison of survey data from both time points will be presented to illustrate how practice has changed.