Ovarian Cancer Does Not Exist; Effect on Gynecologic Cancer Surgery

When I was both a medical student and a pathology resident, I was intrigued by the fact that many ovarian cancers I looked at under the microscope consisted of columnar cells and often seemed to grow on the surface of the ovary. Various teachers told me that the neoplasms were mimicking peritoneal and tubal epithelium. Experts now assert that there is no such thing as"ovarian cancer" -- all such neoplasms are now thought to originate in the uterine tubes, thus explaining their histologic appearance (see:Tackling Cancer Myths: It ’s time to accept that ovarian cancer doesn’t exist). Here is an excerpt from this article by Dr. Mark Boguski about this topic:It ’s been known for almost 10 years that the term “ovarian cancer” is a misnomer. Almost all of these diseases begin somewhere other than the ovary – most usually in the fallopian tubes, meaning that ovarian cancer as a defined entity doesn’t really exist....Once prophylactic removal of the tubes and ovaries became commonplace in people who carry the BRCA1 or BRCA2 mutations, pathologists were able to study the specimens and gain further insight.They found that all of the cancers, or pre-cancers, started in the fallopian tubes or other pelvic organs, but not in the ovaries. The information was published and is available in the pathology literature, but most gynecologists and oncologists aren ’t reading it. Our increasing specialization is compartmentalizing and fragmenting medical knowledge ...
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