Women’s Reproductive Cancers: Facts
Women’s reproductive cancers are also sometimes referred to as estrogen-driven or associated cancers. They only affect women and the leading three types of reproductive cancers are cervical, endometrial/uterine and ovarian. The following definitions and statistics are from the National Cancer Institute:
Cervical Cancer: Cancer that forms in tissues of the cervix (the organ connecting the uterus and vagina). It is usually a slow-growing cancer that may not have symptoms but can be found with regular Pap tests (a procedure in which cells are scraped from the cervix and looked at under a microscope). Cervical cancer is almost always caused by human papillomavirus (HPV) infection. There were an estimated 12,200 new cases diagnosed and 4,210 deaths from cervical (uterine cervix) cancer in the United States in 2010.
Endometrial/Uterine Cancer: Cancer that forms in the tissue lining the uterus (the small, hollow, pear-shaped organ in a woman's pelvis in which a fetus develops). Most endometrial cancers are adenocarcinomas (cancers that begin in cells that make and release mucus and other fluids). Additionally, uterine sarcoma is a rare type of uterine cancer that forms in muscle or other tissues of the uterus (the small, hollow, pear-shaped organ in a woman's pelvis in which a fetus develops). It usually occurs after menopause. The two main types are leiomyosarcoma (cancer that begins in smooth muscle cells) and endometrial stromal sarcoma (cancer that begins in connective tissue cells). There were an estimated 43,470 new cases diagnosed and 7,950 deaths from endometrial (uterine corpus) cancer in the United States in 2010.
Ovarian Cancer: Cancer that forms in tissues of the ovary (one of a pair of female reproductive glands in which the ova, or eggs, are formed). Most ovarian cancers are either ovarian epithelial carcinomas (cancer that begins in the cells on the surface of the ovary) or malignant germ cell tumors (cancer that begins in egg cells). There were an estimated 21,880 new cases diagnosed and 13,850 deaths from ovarian cancer in the United States in 2010.
Provista Diagnostics developing a blood test to aid in the earlier detection of ovarian cancer called the OVDx Test and anticipates its clinical trial to be completed by early 2012.