Background: Ovarian cancer is the second most common malignancy in Pakistani women, accounting for 4%of all cancers in the female population. The aim of this study was to determine sensitivity, specificity, positive andnegative predictive values and 95% confidence intervals for ultrasound in characterization of ovarian masses inpatients presenting at public and private tertiary care hospitals in Karachi, Pakistan. Materials and Methods:We adopted a cross-sectional analytical study design to retrospectively collect data from January 2009-11 frommedical records of two tertiary care hospitals. Using a non-probability purposive sampling technique, werecruited a sample of 86 women aged between 15 and 85 years fulfilling inclusion criteria with histopathologicallyproven ovarian masses presenting for an ultrasound examination in our radiology departments. Results: Ourretrospective data depicted sensitivity and specificity of ultrasound to be 90.7%, 95%CI (0.77, 0.97) and 91.4%,95%CI (0.76, 0.98) respectively. Positive predictive value was 93%, 95%CI (0.79, 0.98) and negative predictivevalue was 89%, 95%CI (0.73, 0.96). A total of 78 ovarian masses were detected, out of which 42 were malignantand 36 were benign. Conclusions: Results of our study further reinforce the conclusion that ultrasound shouldbe used as an initial modality of choice in the workup of every woman suspected of having an ovarian mass. Itnot only results in decreasing the mortality but also avoids unnecessary surgical interventions.
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