Ovarian cancer can result when cells in the ovaries develop genetic mutations. These mutations, which may occur at random or be inherited, cause the cells in the ovarian tissue to grow abnormally fast and to invade other tissues, leading to ovarian cancer. The prognosis for women with ovarian cancer depends on a variety of different factors.
Staging
The prognosis of ovarian cancer varies depending on some of the cancer's characteristics. One way of describing ovarian cancer is known as staging. Stage I cancer describes ovarian cancer that has not spread beyond the ovaries. Stage II describes cancer that has spread throughout the pelvis. Stage III involves spread beyond the pelvis into the lymph nodes or into the abdomen. Stage IV cancer has spread beyond the abdomen, possibly into the lungs or liver.
Prognosis Via Stage
The stage of ovarian cancer is one of the most important factors for the prognosis of patients. Prognosis is commonly given in terms of the five-year survival rate, which is the percentage of patients that are still alive five years from the time of diagnosis. According to The Merck Manuals, patients with stage I cancer have a 70 to 100 percent five-year survival rate. For stage II, the five-year prognosis is 50 to 70 percent. Women diagnosed with stage III cancer have a five-year survival rate of 20 to 50 percent. Stage IV five-year survival is at 10 to 20 percent.
Survival Range
Five-year survival rates are typically given as a range (70 to 100 percent, for example). This is because survival depends on other factors, such as how aggressive the cancer is, the age and health of the patient, how abnormal the cancer cells are, and other factors. Because of the number of factors, there are not published statistics for all the characteristics. These other factors mostly serve to push the five-year survival rate to the high or the low range of the range.
Grading
One factor that affects the five-year survival rate is what is known as the cancer's "grade."This is a qualitative (and thus, somewhat subjective) rating of how abnormal the cancer cell appears under a microscope. The more abnormal the cancer cells are, the worse the prognosis is. Although the way in which a tumors "grade" is determined is somewhat subjective, cancer cells can generally be separated into low grade (cells that resemble normal cells) and high grade (cells that look very different than normal ovarian tissue). According to Johns Hopkins University Pathology Department, low-grade stage I tumors are often left untreated because of their extremely high survival rate.
Other Factors
Aside from the grading of the tumor, other factors also influence the survival rate. Recurrent ovarian cancer (the cancer has been treated but comes back) generally has a worse prognosis. Other factors include the volume (size) of the tumor, as well as the presence of a protein called CA125. CA125 is a protein that is present on some kinds of ovarian cancer cells. High levels of this protein are associated with a shorter survival rate.
