Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2017 Feb;144(2):405-413.
doi: 10.1016/j.ygyno.2016.10.019. Epub 2016 Dec 6.

The histology of ovarian cancer: worldwide distribution and implications for international survival comparisons (CONCORD-2)

Melissa Matz  1 , Michel P Coleman  2 , Milena Sant  3 , Maria Dolores Chirlaque  4 , Otto Visser  5 , Martin Gore  6 , Claudia Allemani  2 ; & the CONCORD Working Group
Collaborators, Affiliations

The histology of ovarian cancer: worldwide distribution and implications for international survival comparisons (CONCORD-2)

Melissa Matz et al. Gynecol Oncol. 2017 Feb.

Erratum in

Abstract

Objective: Ovarian cancers comprise several histologically distinct tumour groups with widely different prognosis. We aimed to describe the worldwide distribution of ovarian cancer histology and to understand what role this may play in international variation in survival.

Methods: The CONCORD programme is the largest population-based study of global trends in cancer survival. Data on 681,759 women diagnosed during 1995-2009 with cancer of the ovary, fallopian tube, peritoneum and retroperitonum in 51 countries were included. We categorised ovarian tumours into six histological groups, and explored the worldwide distribution of histology.

Results: During 2005-2009, type II epithelial tumours were the most common. The proportion was much higher in Oceania (73.1%), North America (73.0%) and Europe (72.6%) than in Central and South America (65.7%) and Asia (56.1%). By contrast, type I epithelial tumours were more common in Asia (32.5%), compared with only 19.4% in North America. From 1995 to 2009, the proportion of type II epithelial tumours increased from 68.6% to 71.1%, while the proportion of type I epithelial tumours fell from 23.8% to 21.2%. The proportions of germ cell tumours, sex cord-stromal tumours, other specific non-epithelial tumours and tumours of non-specific morphology all remained stable over time.

Conclusions: The distribution of ovarian cancer histology varies widely worldwide. Type I epithelial, germ cell and sex cord-stromal tumours are generally associated with higher survival than type II tumours, so the proportion of these tumours may influence survival estimates for all ovarian cancers combined. The distribution of histological groups should be considered when comparing survival between countries and regions.

Keywords: Epidemiology; Histology; Morphology; Ovarain cancer; Worldwide.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

Conflict of interest

The authors declare there are no conflicts of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1. Worldwide distribution of ovarian cancera histology (%): 51 countries, 1995-2009
a Malignancies of the ovary (ICD-O-3 C56.9), fallopian tube, uterine ligaments and adnexa, and other and unspecified female genital organs (C57.0-C57.4, C57.7-C57.9), and peritoneum and retroperitoneum (C48.0-C48.2). Endometrioid tumours are classified as type I epithelial (see text).
Figure 2
Figure 2. Histological groups of ovarian cancera: distribution by continent, 2005-09
a Malignancies of the ovary (ICD-O-3 C56.9), fallopian tube, uterine ligaments and adnexa, and other and unspecified female genital organs (C57.0-C57.4, C57.7-C57.9), and peritoneum and retroperitoneum (C48.0-C48.2). Endometrioid tumours are classified as type I epithelial (see text).
Figure 3
Figure 3. Histological groups of ovarian cancera by country (Asia), 2005-09
a Malignancies of the ovary (ICD-O-3 C56.9), fallopian tube, uterine ligaments and adnexa, and other and unspecified female genital organs (C57.0-C57.4, C57.7-C57.9), and peritoneum and retroperitoneum (C48.0-C48.2). Endometrioid tumours are classified as type I epithelial (see text). *Data with 100% coverage of the national population.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Ferlay J, Soerjomataram I, Ervik M, Dikshit R, Eser S, Mathers C, et al. GLOBOCAN 2012 v1.0, Cancer Incidence and Mortality Worldwide: IARC CancerBase No. 11. Lyon, France: International Agency for Research on Cancer; 2013. [cited 2015 18 May]. [Internet]
    1. Kurman RJ, Carcangiu ML, Herrington CS, Young RH, editors. WHO Classification of Tumours of Female Reproductive Organs. 4th ed. Geneva: WHO; 2014.
    1. Maringe C, Walters S, Butler J, Coleman MP, Hacker N, Hanna L, et al. Stage at diagnosis and ovarian cancer survival: evidence from the International Cancer Benchmarking Partnership. Gynecologic Oncology. 2012;127:75–82. - PubMed
    1. Allemani C, Weir HK, Carreira H, Harewood R, Spika D, Wang X-S, et al. Global surveillance of cancer survival 1995-2009: analysis of individual data for 25,676,887 patients from 279 population-based registries in 67 countries (CONCORD-2) The Lancet. 2015;385:977–1010. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Taylor H. Malignant and semi-malignant tumours of the ovary. Surg Gynecol Obsts. 1929(48):204–30.

MeSH terms