An Elusive Association

This study has been limited for interpretation due to its small sample size and not being the primary focus of the original study.Coronal view showing bilateral polycystic ovaries.A more recent study compared separately the risk of PCOS and its relations to endometrial, ovarian, and breast cancers, which originally showed on analysis that ovarian cancer was not significant (OR 1.41;95% CI,0.93-2.15 p<0.11), but further stratification of the population to include only women younger than 54 showed the risk became significantly elevated (OR 2.52; 95% CI 1.08-5.89, p<0.03). (Hum Reprod Update 2014;20[5]:748.)With PCOS affecting such a high percentage of women and this example of a possible malignant transformation in a patient of known PCOS, perhaps it warrants more studies to find an association that has eluded us so far. We must keep Occam's razor in mind before dismissing this patient's presentation as a separate occurrence of ovarian carcinoma.Mr. Avery and Mr. Maina are third-year medical students at the University of Medicine and Health Sciences in St. Kitts. Dr. Raziuddin is an internist and emergency physician at Weiss Memorial Hospital, Gottlieb Memorial Hospital, and Westlake Hospital, all in Illinois.Tags: abdominal pain, polycystic ovarian syndrome, PCOS, infertility, Occam's razor, endometrial cancer, ovarian cancer, emergency medicine, emergency departmentPublished: 6/27/2017 1:05:00 PM
Source: The Case Files - Category: Emergency Medicine Tags: Blog Posts Source Type: research