prognosis of ovarian cancer

Last edited 05/2019

More than a third (35%) of women diagnosed with ovarian cancer in England and Wales survive their disease for ten years or more (2010-11).

Almost half (46%) of women diagnosed with ovarian cancer in England and Wales survive their disease for five years or more (2010-11)

Almost three-quarters (73%) of women diagnosed with ovarian cancer in England and Wales survive their disease for one year or more (2010-11)

Ovarian cancer survival in England is highest for women diagnosed aged under 40 years old (2009-2013)

Almost 9 in 10 women in England diagnosed with ovarian cancer aged 15-39 survive their disease for five years or more, compared with a fifth of women diagnosed aged 80 and over (2009-2013)

Ovarian cancer survival is improving and has almost doubled in the last 40 years in the UK. In the 1970s, less than a fifth of women diagnosed with ovarian cancer survived their disease beyond ten years, now it's more than a third.

When diagnosed at its earliest stage, 9 in 10 women with ovarian cancer will survive their disease for five years or more, compared with less than 5 in 100 of women when diagnosed at the latest stage

  • Stage I disease is associated with an 80-95% 5 year survival rate depending on histology and grade. That for well or moderately differentiated IA or IB tumours is usually 91-95%; that for poorly differentiated stage I, about 80%

Survival for ovarian cancer is strongly related to the stage of the disease at diagnosis

  • One-year net survival for ovarian cancer is highest for patients diagnosed at stage I, and lowest for those diagnosed at stage IV, 2014 data for England show
  • 99% of patients diagnosed at stage I survived their disease for at least one year, versus 51% patients diagnosed at stage IV
  • One-year net survival for unknown stage ovrian cancer is 46%

Ovarian Cancer (C56), Five-Year Relative Survival by Stage, Women (Aged 15-99 Years), Former Anglia Cancer Network, 2002-2006

Reference: