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Objective-To test whether annual screening with transvaginal ultrasound and CA-125 reduces ovarian cancer mortality.Methods-Data from the first four annual screens, denoted T0-T3, are reported. A CA-125 value at or above 35 U/ml or an abnormality on transvaginal ultrasound was considered a positive screen. Diagnostic follow-up of positive screens was performed at the discretion of participants' physicians. Diagnostic procedures and cancers were tracked and verified through medical records.Results-Among 34,261 screening arm women without prior oophorectomy, compliance with screening ranged from 83.1% (T0) to 77.6% (T3). Screen positivity rates declined slightly with transvaginal ultrasound, from 4.6 at T0 to 2.9-3.4 at T1-T3; CA-125 positivity rates (range 1.4-1.8%) showed no time trend. Eighty-nine invasive ovarian or peritoneal cancers were diagnosed; 60 were screen detected. The positive predictive value (PPV) and cancer yield per 10,000 women screened on the combination of tests were similar across screening rounds (range 1.0-1.3% for PPV and 4.7-6.2 for yield); however, the biopsy (surgery) rate among screen positives decreased from 34% at T0 to 15-20% at T1-T3. The overall ratio of surgeries to screen detected cancers was 19.5:1. Seventy-two percent of screen detected cases were late stage (III/IV).Conclusions-Through four screening rounds, the ratio of surgeries to screen detected cancers was high, and most cases were late stage. However, the effect of screening on mortality is as of yet unknown.

Seventy-one patients received adjuvant Cytoxan (cyclophosphamide; Bristol-Myers Co, Evansville, IN), Adriamycin (doxorubicin; Adria Laboratories, Columbus, OH), and cisplatin (CISCA) chemotherapy between March 1981 and March 1986. Patients received adjuvant CISCA chemotherapy if they had pathological findings that were thought to predict for high likelihood of relapse. These included the presence of resected nodal metastases, extravesicular involvement of tumor, lymphatic/vascular permeation of the primary tumor, or pelvic visceral invasion. Sixty-two patients at a similar high risk for recurrence did not receive adjuvant CISCA chemotherapy because they refused, had medical contraindications to therapy, or were not referred for chemotherapy. Two-hundred six patients had a cystectomy performed during the same study period but had none of the poor prognostic features suggesting a high risk for relapse. Sixty-two percent of the patients receiving adjuvant chemotherapy are alive and disease-free for a mean follow-up of 118 weeks (range, 28 to 310 weeks). A survival advantage exists for the adjuvant-treated patients when compared with those with unfavorable pathological findings who did not receive adjuvant chemotherapy (70% v 37%) (P = .00012): no difference exists in long-term disease-free survival for those with favorable pathological findings (long-term disease-free survival 76%) v those who received adjuvant chemotherapy (70%) (P = .33). Adjuvant CISCA chemotherapy prolongs the disease-free survival of some patients following a cystectomy. Patients who benefitted from adjuvant CISCA chemotherapy included those with resected nodal metastases, extra-vesicular involvement of tumor, and direct invasion of the pelvic viscera. Patients not benefitting from adjuvant CISCA chemotherapy in this analysis included those with lymphatic/vascular invasion in their primary tumor as the sole manifestation of high risk for relapse.

We retrospectively reviewed the genetic abnormalities detected clinically in 455 men with advanced germ cell tumors referred for chemotherapy. Of the patients 49 had extragonadal and 406 had testicular germ cell tumors. Of 19 patients with mediastinal germ cell tumors 4 (21 per cent, 3 with teratocarcinoma and 1 with endodermal sinus tumor) had Klinefelter's syndrome. Three of these patients had a 47XXY and 1 had a 48XXYY karyotype. No Klinefelter's syndrome was observed among 30 consecutive patients with retroperitoneal germ cell tumors or among the 406 with testicular tumors. Karyotypes of 35 consecutive patients with testis cancer without evident congenital abnormalities showed normal chromosomal patterns. We found 2 patients with Down's syndrome and testicular tumor, for an incidence of 0.5 per cent (probably significant). We also describe 2 cases of nonseminomatous testicular cancer and Marfan's syndrome (0.5 per cent incidence versus a 5 of 100,000 incidence of Marfan's syndrome in the general population). Apparently, genetic abnormalities are increased in men with germ cell tumors and we discuss the significance of this association.

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