Comment: Ovarian Carcinoma Histotypes: Their Emergence as Important Prognostic and Predictive Markers

open access Cancer Network

In this issue of ONCOLOGY, Dr. Ramalingam reviews clinicopathologic features of the ovarian carcinoma histotypes.[1] To appreciate her article fully, it is useful to consider how the current era of ovarian cancer management differs from our approach of 15 years ago. As the author discusses, ovarian carcinoma was formerly considered to be a single disease, with treatment decisions based solely on grade and stage; in contrast, the ovarian carcinoma histotypes are now considered to be distinct diseases, differing with respect to precursor lesions, molecular events during oncogenesis, pattern of spread, response to chemotherapy, and clinical outcome. It is worth noting that this shift in approach, in which cancers arising in a given organ are routinely classified into reproducibly diagnosable subtypes, is not unique to ovarian carcinoma.........In summary, Dr. Ramalingam provides a thoughtful review of the current state of our understanding of ovarian carcinoma histotypes. We have attempted to provide context by demonstrating how the current approach to diagnosis of ovarian cancer has changed significantly from our understanding as recently as 15 years ago. The movement of ovarian carcinoma histotypes from ill-defined and poorly reproducible clusters of cases to distinct disease entities clearly has beneficial implications for patient management.

Reference

1. Ramalingam P. Morphologic, immunophenotypic, and molecular features of epithelial ovarian cancer. Oncology (Williston Park). 2016;30:166-76.