Understanding the Different Kinds of Ovarian Cancer

If you or a loved one has been diagnosed with ovarian cancer, you probably have a lot going through your mind. You have a lot of phrases and unknown words thrown at you, and it all sounds like gibberish. In order to treat cancer correctly, it’s important to understand it and how it affects the body.

Ovarian cancer is the 5th most deadly cancer for women, and it has over 30 types. Most of them are broken up into categories according to the cell of where they originated from. If you think that you might have ovarian cancer, a women’s clinic Atlanta can help you get some testing done. Here are some of the cancers that you might find yourself facing. 

Epithelial Ovarian Tumors

Cancerous epithelial tumors make up most of the diagnosed cases of ovarian cancer. Approximately 85 to 90 percent of all ovarian cancers start from the covering of the ovary, also known as the epithelial cells, and they are broken up into 4 different subcategories. 

Endometrioid Carcinomas

These cancer cells are typically very slow-growing and don’t cause many symptoms. Because of that, a woman can have them for years and not have any idea. These tumors don’t respond well to radiation or chemotherapy treatments, so surgery is usually the only choice to remove them. 

Clear-cell Carcinomas

This type of ovarian cancer tends to produce symptoms at an earlier stage than other types of ovarian cancers do. This is an uncommon type of cancer, and only about 5 to 10 percent of women with ovarian cancer are diagnosed with it. 

Serous Carcinomas

Serous tumors comprise over half of all epithelial ovarian tumors. Depending on how the cells look and act, they are graded as either low-grade or high-grade tumors. A higher grade means that the cells are faster spreading and could be more deadly. These tumors respond well to chemotherapy.

Mucinous Carcinomas

Younger women are at a much lower risk of developing this cancer than older ones are. In fact, women under the age of 35 are rarely diagnosed with this type of tumor. Like other types of ovarian tumors, this kind does not respond well to treatment, with surgery being the best option. 

Germ Cell Tumors

Germ cell tumors are rare, making up less than 2 percent of diagnosed ovarian cancers. This cancer begins in the reproductive cells, specifically the eggs inside the ovary. 

This type of cancer is most likely to show up in young women ranging in age from 16 to 29 and has a high survival rate.

Teratomas

These tumors are most often benign. They often grow different types of tissue in them, such as hair or muscle and bone. 

Dysgerminoma

This is the most common type of germ cell tumor. While they don’t typically spread quickly, they can travel to other parts of the body. These don’t always show up in blood tests, so pelvic ultrasounds or CT scans are used to rule them out. 

Endodermal Sinus Tumor

Tumors of this nature most often occur in children. It is rare and only makes up about 2 percent of ovarian cancer cases. The tumors are treated with surgery and react well to chemotherapy. When this cancer is caught early, survival rates are very high.