- 1 in 57 women in the United States will develop ovarian cancer.
- Over 21,000 women will be diagnosed with ovarian cancer in the Unites States this year.
- Two-thirds of women with ovarian cancer are age 55 or older at the time of diagnosis.
- 10 to15 percent of ovarian cancers are inherited, and women with a family history are at an increased risk.
- Ovarian cancer is the deadliest cancer among women and is the 5th leading cause of cancer-related deaths in women.
- Most women have advanced disease at the time of diagnosis because ovarian cancer may have no symptoms in its early stages.
- The majority of women with ovarian cancer fail conventional chemotherapy.
- Personalized immunotherapy using the patient's tumor to derive cancer vaccines and cell–based therapeutics is a promising new approach to treat ovarian cancer.
- The Penn Ovarian Cancer Research Center is working to establish an Ovarian Cancer Tumor Center to facilitate the procurement of ovarian tumor tissue at the time of surgery. Cells from the tumor issue can then be used to develop personalized vaccine therapies, which could eventually lead to improved survival and quality of life for women with ovarian cancer.
Learn more about ovarian cancer at the Abramson Cancer Center.
