Library · Neoplasm
Ovarian tumors
Make it clearer
The ovary isn't made of just one kind of cell, and an ovarian tumor can start from any of them. If it starts in the epithelium, the layer of cells covering the ovary, it's called a cystadenoma. If it starts in the germ cells, a different cell line that lives inside that same ovary, it's called a teratoma. And if it starts in the group known in medicine as the sex cords and stroma, you get an ovarian fibroma. Same organ, different origins.
That's why the word tumor is a lot like the word lump: it tells you something grew there, not what it's made of or how it's going to behave. Knowing there's a tumor in the ovary still doesn't answer whether it's cancer. That answer comes from the specific type and from the classification it gets when it's studied in pathology.
In brief
Ovarian tumors can arise from several different cell types in the ovary. A cystadenoma is an epithelial tumor, a teratoma is a germ cell tumor, and an ovarian fibroma belongs to the sex cord-stromal group.
Finding an ovarian tumor does not, by itself, tell us whether it is cancer.
How a tumor behaves depends on its specific type and on the classification assigned by pathologic examination.
Sources (3)
- National Cancer InstituteOvarian, Fallopian Tube, and Primary Peritoneal Cancer Screening (PDQ)
- National Cancer InstituteOvarian Epithelial, Fallopian Tube, and Primary Peritoneal Cancer Treatment (PDQ)
- International Agency for Research on Cancer / World Health OrganizationWHO Classification of Tumours: Female Genital Tumours
This page explains the topic in general terms; it does not tell anyone what treatment to follow.
Updated