Role of bioelectric impedance phase angle in ovarian malignancy: A hospital-based study

Background: A woman's risk at birth of having ovarian cancer at some point in her lifetime is 1-1.5% and mortality due to the disease is almost 0.5%. It accounts for 3% of all cancers in females. Despite a low contributory percentage, it remains the fifth leading cause of cancer related death. This is because most ovarian cancers are detected when they have spread beyond the ovary. Bioelectric Impedance Analysis (BIA) affords an emerging opportunity to assess prognosis because of its ability to non invasively assess cell and plasma membrane structure and function by means of phase angle. Aims: To compare the Phase Angle between patients of Ovarian Cancer and their matched control with the help of BIA. Settings and Design: After taking clearance from ethical committee a total of 33 female cases of histological proven serous cyst adenocarcinoma were included from the surgery in Patient Department, Department of surgery. Equal numbers of matched controls were recruited from the friends and relatives of cases. Subjects and Methods: BIA BODY STAT QUAD SCAN 4000 was used to measure resistance (R) and reactance (Xc) by recording a voltage drop in applied current. Phase angle is the ratio of reactance to resistance and is a measure of cell vitality. Statistical Analysis Used: Unpaired t -test and One Way ANOVA were applied. Results: In control group Phase angle showed a mean ± SEM 5.073 (0.0698) while in test group it showed a mean value ± SEM 3.536 (0.0616). Mean of stage I was 3.800 (0.1154) while that of stage II was 3.620 (0.2588). Means of stage III and IV are 3.275 (0.158) and 2.90 (0.141) respectively. One Way ANOVA was applied to see any significant differences among the phase angle values of all stages. The results were statistically significant. The smaller the phase angle values higher was the Malignant Tumours (TNM) staging. Conclusions: The phase angles differed significantly from the healthy age matched control values and also among the stages. This study demonstrated that phase angle is a strong predictor of severity and prognosis of ovarian cancer and differed significantly between the groups. Further studies are required to validate its role as a screening and prognostic tool.