tailieunhanh - Ovarian Cancer Methods and Protocols

Ovarian cancer is the most common fatal cancer of the female reproductive tract in industrialized countries. At the time of writing, it is the fourth most common cause of cancer death in women in the ., after breast, lung, and colorectal cancer, with a lifetime risk of approximately 2% (1). It tends to present at an advanced stage, with limited prospects for treatment and generally poor survival. | M E T H O D S I N M O L E C U L A R M E D I C I N ETM Ovarian Cancer Methods and Protocols Edited by John M. S. Bartlett . taLdi SiL - . K Humana Press 1 The Epidemiology of Ovarian Cancer Emily Banks 1. Introduction Ovarian cancer is the most common fatal cancer of the female reproductive tract in industrialized countries. At the time of writing it is the fourth most common cause of cancer death in women in the . after breast lung and colorectal cancer with a lifetime risk of approximately 2 1 . It tends to present at an advanced stage with limited prospects for treatment and generally poor survival. The histological classification of ovarian cancer is complex with a large number of histological subtypes. Because of the rarity of each type tumor studies have tended to group the types into broader categories of epithelial and nonepithelial tumors. Borderline tumors are distinguished by the absence of stromal invasion. They are considered to be an earlier or less malignant form of ovarian cancer and have similar epidemiological characteristics to epithelial tumors with a better prognosis. Generally speaking ovarian cancer incidence increases with age and is more common in women with a family history of the disease. Reproductive and hormonal factors appear to be the other main determinants of risk with a decline in risk associated with increasing parity oral contraceptive use hysterectomy and sterilization by tubal ligation. For other factors such as the use of hormone replacement therapy fertility drug treatment breast feeding and infertility the evidence remains equivocal. This chapter will discuss the epidemiology of ovarian cancer starting with a brief outline of patterns of incidence and time trends before reviewing the evidence to date regarding risk factors for nonepithelial and epithelial tumors. In view of the sparsity of data regarding risk factors for nonepithelial tumors the