Publication:

Evaluation of the alcazar scoring system in differentiating benign from malignant ovarian tumors

Background To evaluate prospectively the diagnostic performance of Alcazar scoring system to differentiate Benign from Malignant ovarian tumors using gray scale ultrasonography and color Doppler.

Methods The prospective cohort study was conducted from January 2014 to August 2014 in the department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, SCBMCH, Cuttack. The study includes 54 patients with ovarian tumors and all were subjected to ultrasound and color Doppler. The data obtained was used to score according to ALCAZAR system and the probability of malignancy was determined. The efficacy of the scoring system was evaluated by histopathological examination of the tumor and the ascitic fluid cytology as gold standard.

Results Of the 54 cases, Alcazar scoring system identified 22 out of 25 malignant tumors and 27 out of 29 benign tumors. The sensitivity and specificity of the scoring system for diagnosing malignancy are 88% and 93.1% respectively. The positive predictive value and negative predictive value are 91% and 90% respectively.

Conclusions Alcazar scoring system is more specific as a diagnostic tool to rule out malignancy and can be used to differentiate benign from malignant ovarian tumors. The main disadvantage being, it is operator dependent.