Ovarian cancer survival rates

Ovarian cancer is usually not diagnosed in its early stages because there aren't any screening tests that work well for finding it. And sometimes ovarian cancer may not cause early symptoms. But most women do have symptoms, even in early-stage ovarian cancer. Because the symptoms may be common ones for some women, such as bloating or pain in the belly, women may not know to seek medical care.

When a physical exam and other tests show that a woman may have ovarian cancer, laparotomy surgery is done to confirm the diagnosis, to provide initial treatment, and to stage the disease with biopsies of abdominal tissue, peritoneal fluid, and lymph nodes.

A 5-year survival rate means the percentage of people who are still alive 5 years or longer after their diagnosis. It is important to remember that these are only averages. Everyone's case is different, and these numbers do not necessarily show what will happen in your case.

Survival rates decrease as the stage and grade of cancer become more advanced and involve lymph nodes or other body organs.¹

Survival rates also depend on the type of ovarian cancer you have. There are three forms of ovarian cancer—epithelial, stromal, and germ cell. Epithelial cancer starts in the cells on the outside of the ovary and is by far the most common. The survival rates shown here are for epithelial ovarian cancer.²

Citations

1. Brennan K, et al. (2007). Premalignant and malignant disorders of the ovaries and oviducts. In AH DeCherney et al., eds., Current Diagnosis and Treatment Obstetrics and Gynecology, 10th ed., pp. 971–884. New York: McGraw-Hill.
2. Berek JS, Natarajan S (2007). Ovarian and fallopian tube cancer. In JS Berek, ed., Berek and Novak's Gynecology, 14th ed., pp. 1457–1547. Philadelphia: Lippincott Williams and Wilkins.