Cancer and Ovarian Cancer basics
What is Cancer?
Cancer occurs when you have cells that lose their normal feedback in the body and start abnormally dividing. Tumors are groupings of these cancerous cells. Cancer can be grouped into two broad categories: Malignant and benign.
What are the ovaries and what normal functions do they have?
Tumor markers are blood tests that can be done to test if there is GCT present.
Ovaries play an important role in the female body. They are responsible for hormone production of estrogen and progesterone. These hormones are responsible for maintaining healthy bones, keeping the heart healthy, and improving the brain.
Ovaries also carry the genetic material needed to produce offspring. Every month, the ovary produces a cyst, also called an egg, that breaks off the ovary and travels to the fallopian tube. If this egg is fertilized by a sperm, then it implants in the uterus and is the start of a baby.
A woman is born with two ovaries. They both have the same functions. If one ovary is lost, the other makes up for the lost ovary.
When a woman enters menopause, her ovaries stop working. She no longer ovulates an egg every month, and the ovary stops producing hormones. The average age of menopause is 52. Symptoms of menopause include hot flashes, mood disturbances, and night sweats.
What is ovarian cancer?
Ovarian cancer is a cancer that arises from ovarian cells.
What are the types of ovarian cancer?
The types of ovarian cancer are grouped into three main categories based on the ovarian cell type from which the cancer initially originated from: Epithelial ovarian cancer, Sex Cord ovarian cancer, and Germ cell ovarian cancer.
The most common ovarian cancer is epithelial ovarian cancer. It comprises approximately 80% of all ovarian cancer. These cancers tend to affect older woman who are postmenopausal. There are two main subtypes of epithelial ovarian tumors: serous and mucinous.
Germ cell ovarian cancer subtype comprises approximately 10% of ovarian cancer. This type of cancer tends to affect younger women and girls.
Sex cord stromal tumors make up approximately 10% of all ovarian cancer. There are two main types of tumors in this category: Granulosa cell tumors, and Sertoli Leydig tumors. Granulosa cell tumors are the most common sex cord stromal tumor. These tumors account for 5-10% of all ovarian cancer. They tend to affect both the young and the old. Since the granulosa cell is responsible for making estrogen, these tumors often inappropriately make high levels of estrogen.