ABSTRACT
During an 18 month period from 1st January 1988 t0 30th June, 1989- 90 cases diagnosed as ovarian tumours were admitted to Unit 11, Central Women Hospital. Pre-operative data collection on clinical features and ultrasonic findings were made. Following laparotomy, operative findings and histopathologic diagnosis were noted. 87 cases had a laparotomy. Out of 82 cases of ovarian tumours, 21 were malignant (25.6 per cent) and 61 (74.4 per cent) benign. The clinical and ultrasonic diagnotic accuracy of ovarian tumours were 87.35 per cent and 91.18 per cent. There was no statistical difference between the two methods in diagnosing ovarian tumours (p>0.05). The accuracy of differentiating malignant from benign ovarian tumours clinically, by ultrasound or by laparotomy using gross findings and histopathology as the definitive diagnosis was also calculated and there was no significant difference (p>0.05). The sensitivity, specificity, predictive values for positive and negative teste were calculated in differentiating benign from malignant ovarian tumours. It was found that clinical diagnosis had the highest sensitivity rate (73.68 per cent) whereas operative findings had the highest specificity rate (96.72 per cent).