There ’s agood reasonwe do n’t take wellness advice from celebrities . We may delight learn them on screen , but if we listened to role player about medicine we ’d all bedrinking turpentineanddying of smallpox .

Nevertheless , they keep offer up it . And the latest piece of music of Bad Medical Advice come in to us from histrion andfourth - most - animate metier histrionics of women in STEM , Ellen Pompeo .

Ina segmentof theEllen DeGeneres Showaimed at raising consciousness and funding for tit Crab research , the star , illustrious for play a doctor on screen inGrey ’s Anatomy , attempted to give some off - the - cuff aesculapian advice about ovarian Crab – and real physician determine the show were not proud of .

Ovarian Crab affectsone in 75 womenat some point in their animation , andaccounts for more deathsthan any other cancer in the female generative system . This is partly because it is a near - invisible disease : it ’s rare to noticeany symptoms at allin its former stagecoach , and even advanced ovarian cancer may only make a few vague symptoms such as bloating or discomfort . Unfortunately , therefore , nigh two - thirds of womenaren’t diagnose until their cancer has reachedstage III or IV – when survival rates areless than one in five – earning the disease its popular byname , the “ silent killer whale ” .

However , other detection can lift survival rate toas high as 93 percent , so Pompeo ’s advice to “ ask for the ultrasound … ovarian cancer is not detected otherwise and it ’s a simple sonography and you could bewitch it and live , ” may seem sensible at first .

But despite a fewrecentmedicalbreakthroughs , there is still no way for doctor to riddle for ovarian cancer , and Pompeo ’s message contradicts the advice of theAmerican Cancer Society , theAmerican College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists(ACOG ) , theCenters for Disease Control and Prevention(CDC ) , theUS Preventative Services Task Force , Cancer Research UK , and countless other organizations .

Although ultrasoundsare used in the diagnosisof ovarian Cancer the Crab , this is not the same matter as sieve . Doctors utilise the scans to check the progression of the disease once its presence is already known or suspected – a screening , however , is a procedure to check for a disease in patient that show no symptom , such as a pap spot .

“ If ultrasound were a highly efficacious screening puppet , we ’d be doing them , " explainedIFLScience favoriteDr Jennifer Gunter toBuzzfeed News .

Not only can transvaginal ultrasounds be painful and expensive , they ’re also potentially dangerous as a screening prick . If the scan find nothing , a woman might be reassure she is safe – when in fact the run has told her nothing . If the scan find something , she could be in for a bombardment of expensive and risky tests and surgeries to even off what isalmost certainlyjust a benignant abnormality .

At the very least , warns Gunter , Pompeo ’s advice lay on the line a breakdown in Dr. - patient cartel .

“ The implication was very much that doctors are fell the bollock and not doing this for you , ” she say . “ It ’s fine to raise awareness but to tell hoi polloi they should get a specific trial … well , what ’s the radioactive dust when a physician enounce no ? ”

gratefully , Pompeo seems to have taken the content on board , tweeting a fudge factor to her remarks a few days by and by .

Despite having virtually no symptoms and even fewer known causes , there are somerisk factorsthat can increase your likeliness of spring up ovarian Crab during your life-time . For people with a family or personal history of certain cancers , or anybody concerned about their wellness , it ’s crucial to blab to a Dr. – and not just somebody who plays one on TV .