Ovarian Cancer

About Ovarian Cancer

Older female patient smiling at female doctorIf you’ve been diagnosed with ovarian cancer, you deserve experienced care and access to the most advanced treatments available. Penn Medicine's Abramson Cancer Center is a nationally recognized leader in ovarian cancer research, offering cutting-edge treatments, such as immunotherapy, and clinical trials to advance ovarian cancer treatment as we know it. As an academic medical center, we have on-site labs run by renowned cancer specialists who can analyze your unique cancer to guide precision care at every phase of your treatment.

What is ovarian cancer?

Ovarian cancer forms on an ovary (one of a pair of reproductive glands that produce eggs and the hormones estrogen and progesterone). Because its symptoms are often silent, and the majority of cases are not due to family history, ovarian cancer is often diagnosed after it has spread to other parts of the body.

Types of ovarian cancer

Most ovarian cancers are epithelial carcinomas, meaning that they form on the cells on the surface of your ovary, but tumors can also form in hormone-producing cells (stromal tumors) or in your eggs (malignant germ cell tumors).

There is evidence that many of these cancers begin in the fallopian tubes. These are the thin tubes through which eggs travel from your ovaries to your uterus.