A New York Times story this week about tennis legend Chris Evert’s battle—twice—with ovarian cancer painted a simple and powerful picture: Fearing for her own risk after her sister died of the disease, Evert got tested, caught it early, as Stage 1, and treated it successfully in 2021. And though it returned—Stage 1 again, meaning it had not spread—she was able to catch that, too, and treat it again. Now the 69-year-old been declared cancer-free a second time.
“As with her original diagnosis,” the story notes, “early testing was critical—a message Ms. Evert shares zealously.” Except for just one little problem: When it comes to ovarian cancer, there is no such thing as early testing.
“There is no approved screening. There is no method of early detection,” Sarah DeFeo, chief program officer at the Ovarian Cancer Research Alliance (OCRA) , tells Fortune . “It’s a rare disease,” with a one in 87 over-lifetime risk , “so it’s not something that happens as part of a well-woman checkup, whether for a gynecologist or for regular internal medicine.
” That’s because, says Dr. Gillian Hanley , a member of OCRA’s scientific advisory committee and an associate professor of obstetrics and gynecology at the University of British Columbia, “all of the screening methods that have been tried have failed to decrease mortality rates to date, which is how we determine whether or not a screening method is effective.” While there are some standard ways of .