Ovarian Carcinoma: The Challenge of Early Diagnosis

Ovarian Cancer (OC) is the most lethal gynecologic tumor, notorious for being diagnosed in late stages. About 14.000 women in the USA and 160.000 women worldwide die every year of OC. In the USA approximately 23.0000 new cases are predicted to be diagnosed in 2016. Morbidity and mortality due to OC have changed very little over the past 5 decades, despite extensive basic research efforts, identification of risk factors, chemotherapy and cytoreductive surgery. This is in contrast with other gynecologic malignancies which underwent spectacular declines of their mortality rates, such as cervical cancer, due to the identification of precursor lesions and of etiopathogenic infections (HPV). OC results in more deaths than all other gynecologic cancers combined in the USA.