To explore the effects of International Ovarian Tumor Analysis (IOTA) simple rules used by non-gynecological sonographers in the evaluation of benign and malignant ovarian masses.

One hundred and eighty-two patients with ovarian tumors who were admitted to Huzhou Maternity and Child Health Hospital from January 2018 to October 2019 and had clear pathological results as the research subjects. All patients underwent color Doppler ultrasound examination within 3 days before the operation. The size, shape, internal echo, internal separation, and blood flow of the mass and the ascites of the patient were examined, and the images were stored. First, a non-gynecological ultrasound specialist determined the nature of the masses on images based on experience, and then the IOTA simple rules were used to re-determine the masses. A four-grid table was used to calculate the sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value, negative predictive value, and accuracy for diagnosing the benign and malignant ovarian masses before and after the application of IOTA simple rules. The χ² test was used to compare the differences in the diagnostic accuracy for ovarian masses.

Ninety-two of the 182 cases of ovarian masse were judged to be benign before applying IOTA judgment, of which 80 were confirmed to be benign by pathology, 83 were judged to be malignant, of which 30 were confirmed to be malignant by pathology, and 7 were judged to be borderline, all of which were judged to be borderline by pathology. Before applying IOTA simple rules, the sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value, negative predictive value, and accuracy for diagnosing ovarian mass were 72.7%, 58.0%, 35.6%, 87.0%, and 61.5%, respectively. One hundred and forty-five of the 182 cases of ovarian masses were diagnosed to be benign using IOTA simple criteria, of which 133 were confirmed to be benign by pathology, 37 were diagnosed to be malignant, of which 29 were confirmed to be malignant by pathology, and there were no uncertain cases. The sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value, negative predictive value, and accuracy of using IOTA simple guidelines to diagnose ovarian masses were 72.7%, 96.4%, 86.5%, 91.7%, and 90.7%. The accuracy of using IOTA simple criteria to determine benign and malignant ovaries was significantly higher than that of not using (χ²=42.428, P＜0.001).

IOTA simple criteria have appreciated value in the assessment of benign and malignant ovarian masses, especially for sonographers who are not specialized in gynecology. IOTA simple criteria are a simple and feasible auxiliary method for judging benign and malignant ovarian masses.