Adapted for the Canadian edition by Barry Rosen, MD
Carcinoma of the ovary is one of the most common gynecologic malignancies. It is the sixth most frequent cause of cancer death in women in Canada. About one in every 70 women will develop cancer of the ovary and one in every 100 women will die from it. The National Cancer Institute of Canada estimates that there will be 2,200 cases of ovarian cancer diagnosed in 1995 with approximately 1,350 deaths. In many cases, it is curable when found early, but because it does not cause any symptoms in its early stages most women have widespread disease at the time of diagnosis. Partly because of this, the mortality rate from ovarian cancer exceeds that for all other gynecologic malignancies combined.
Types The most common form of ovarian cancer arises from the cells covering the surface of the ovary and is known as epithelial carcinoma . There are five major types of this carcinoma: serous, mucinous, endometrioid, clear cell and undifferentiated . Epithelial carcinomas are further divided into grades, according to how virulent they appear on microscopic examination.
