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The Three Types of Ovarian Cancer

The ovaries are the reproductive organs that produce the ova (eggs) used in conception. The ovaries are made up of different tissues (germ, stromal cells, and epithelial cells). Each of these tissues is prone to cancer. Some are benign, and others are malignant. The malignant cancer spreads to other parts of the female body and can lead to death if not caught early enough. The 3 types of ovarian tumors are named for the 3 different types of ovarian tissues that they grow out of: germ cell tumors, stromal tumors, and epithelial tumors.

The epithelial cells are the ones that cover the ovaries and the epithelial ovarian tumors are benign, which means they do not spread and cause serious illness in the female. There are different types of epithelial tumors: serous adenomas, mucinous adenomas, and Brenner tumors. There are some low malignant potential epithelial ovarian tumors that are not as easy to detect using a microscope. These do not grow into the supporting tissues of the ovaries, and therefore do not act like the typical ovarian tumor. This type of tumor thankfully grows slowly and is less dangerous than most ovarian cancers.

Another name for cancerous epithelial tumors is carcinomas and they represent approximately 85% to 90% of the ovarian cancers found in women. These tumors are classified by their features into serous, mucinous, endometrioid, and also clear cell types. The most common of these are the serous ones.

There is another class of epithelial ovarian carcinomas known as undifferentiated epithelial ovarian carcinomas, and they do tend to grow and spread more quickly. There are 4 subtypes of these carcinomas and care classified by cell type and given a grade from 1 to 3. The grade 1's are normal tissue and tend to have a better prognosis than the other grades. Grade 3 ovarian carcinomas look less like normal tissue, and also tend to have a worse prognosis than the other two grades.

A cancer that is closely related to the epithelial ovarian cancer is the extra-ovarian, which is a primary peritoneal carcinoma. It develops in the peritoneum cells instead of the ovarian cells bit it is difficult to tell exactly where the cancer first started and then spread because cancer tends to spread along surfaces of the abdomen and the pelvis. The symptoms of this cancer are similar to the symptoms of ovarian cancer and can thus be mistaken for ovarian cancer. The symptoms are: abdominal pain and or bloating, bowel habits that change, indigestion, nausea and vomiting. The treatment is surgery to remove as much of the cancer as possible followed by chemotherapy, which is the same treatment as for most ovarian cancers as well.

Germ cell tumors only represent approximately 5% of ovarian cancers in women and also have several subtypes that are usually benign, although some of them can become life threatening. The typical germ cell tumors are endodermal sinus tumor, choriocarcinoma, dysgerminoma, and also teratoma. These tumors contain various benign tissues that resemble adult respiratory passages, bone, teeth, nervous tissue and other bodily tissues. Surgery is the treatment recommended to remove the cyst. These teratomas tumors usually appear in young girls who are less than 18 year of age. If the tumor has not spread past the ovary than the ovary is removed. Chemotherapy is also needed if the tumor has spread beyond the ovary.

The two tumors that grow and spread rapidly are the endodermal sinus tumor and the choriocarcinoma. They are very sensitive to chemotherapy thankfully. They are very rare tumors and also affect young girls and young women.

Stromal tumors appear typically in women older than age 50, but can on occasion occur in young girls too. These tumors can cause vaginal bleeding to occur again after menopause, or can cause menstrual periods and breast development in very young girls. Tow types of benign stromal tumors are Thecomas and fibromas. Malignant stromal tumors are the granulosa cell tumors, granulosatheca tumors, and Sertoli-Leydig cell tumors.

Benign ovarian cysts that do not shrink on their own are treated with birth control pill prescriptions, observation, medications and possibly surgical removal.