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Updated: Jul 20, 2026
10:58
Quantitation of Intra-peritoneal Ovarian Cancer Metastasis
Published on: July 18, 2016
Patterns and progress in ovarian cancer over 14 years
John K Chan1, Michael K Cheung, Amreen Husain
1Division of Gynecologic Oncology, Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford Cancer Center, Stanford, California 94305, USA. johnchan@stanford.edu
Obstetrics and Gynecology
|September 2, 2006
Summary
Overall survival for ovarian cancer improved slightly over 14 years, but new strategies are needed for epithelial and sarcoma tumors. This study offers insights for counseling patients with ovarian cancer.
Area of Science:
- Oncology
- Gynecologic Oncology
- Epidemiology
Background:
- Ovarian cancer survival rates have historically varied by histologic type.
- Understanding trends in survival is crucial for improving patient outcomes.
Purpose of the Study:
- To estimate changes in 5-year disease-specific survival rates for women with ovarian cancer over a 14-year period.
- To identify prognostic factors associated with improved survival in ovarian cancer patients.
Main Methods:
- Utilized the Surveillance Epidemiology and End Results (SEER) Database to identify women diagnosed with ovarian tumors (epithelial, germ cell, sarcoma, sex-cord stromal).
- Extracted demographic, clinicopathologic, and survival data.
- Analyzed survival trends using chi-squared, Kaplan-Meier, and Cox regression analyses.
Main Results:
- Overall 5-year disease-specific survival for ovarian cancer increased from 45.4% (1988-1992) to 48.6% (1993-1997).
- Survival improved for non-clear cell epithelial (42.5% to 45.8%) and sarcoma (33.5% to 38.8%) subtypes.
- No significant survival improvements were observed for clear cell (64.3% to 63.9%) or sex-cord stromal (89.7% to 85.7%) tumors.
- Younger age, early stage, favorable histology, low grade, standard surgery, and a more recent diagnosis interval were linked to better survival.
Conclusions:
- A modest improvement in overall ovarian cancer survival was observed over the 14-year study period.
- New treatment strategies are essential for improving outcomes in epithelial cancer and sarcoma subtypes, which have a poor prognosis.
- These findings can aid in counseling women diagnosed with various types of ovarian cancer.
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