A new research, commissioned by Congress, into ovarian cancer has revealed that it is not actually just one kind of cancer and it does not initiate in the ovaries. The new report released by the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering & Medicine reveals the existence of ‘surprising gaps’ in the insights about the ovarian cancer. Ovarian cancer is the fifth largest type of cancer responsible for deaths, despite accounting for only 3% of the total number of cancer cases detected in females.

With cancer detected only after it reaches an advanced stage in nearly two-third of the cases, less than 46% of women are able to survive for five years after being diagnosed with ovarian cancer. According to committee member Heidi Donovan, a professor at the University Of Pittsburgh School Of Nursing, ovarian cancer is a group of cancers and the evidence are now being found to prove that ovarian cancer is not actually a single disease. The report suggests detailed study on one of these kinds of cancer, called high-grade serous carcinoma, which is responsible for approximately 70% of fatal cases.

Majority of the high-grade serious carcinoma cases begin in the fallopian tubes, eventually spreading to the ovaries, which is where the advancement of cancer takes place is finally detected. “The ability to spread is a marker of an aggressive tumor. Once we find them, they’ve already metastasized. These are really very distinct cancers and need to be treated as distinct cancers — the past practice of lumping them together should be a thing of the past,” said Donovan, also the Vice Chair of Research in the Department of Health and Community Systems.

She added that when treated with aggressive chemotherapy in the early stages, high-grade serous carcinoma responds positively, but tends to happen again after a couple of years. Conversely, the other types of ovarian cancer that are diagnosed easily during the initial stages are likely being over treated. Ovarian cancer symptoms are usually ignored by women.