Bruce H. Knox
Independent Scholar, Auckland, New Zealand
Publications
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Research Article
Timely Access to Pelvic Ultrasound for Women with Suspected Ovarian Cancer in Aotearoa New Zealand
Author(s): Bruce H. Knox*
This paper examines the clinical, patient-centred and health- system case for improving timely access to pelvic ultrasound for women who present with symptoms or clinical findings suggestive of ovarian cancer in Aotearoa New Zealand. This paper does not claim that immediate ultrasound has been shown to reduce ovarian-cancer mortality; the available evidence does not support that conclusion. Instead, it advances a narrower, more defensible proposition: when ovarian cancer is clinically suspected, timely access to appropriate pelvic ultrasound can reduce diagnostic uncertainty, characterise pelvic and adnexal abnormalities earlier, identify women requiring urgent specialist assessment, facilitate further imaging and multidisciplinary planning, and potentially detect some cancers while disease burden is lower and complete surgical cytoreduction is more achievable [1- 11]. New Zealand sho.. Read More»