The ovaries and ovarian cancer

 

Your reproductive system

Your reproductive system is made up of the:

• vagina (the tube from the cervix to outside your body)
• womb (where a baby grows during pregnancy) 
• cervix (the opening from the womb to the vagina)
• fallopian tubes (that connect your ovaries to the womb)
• ovaries (that release an egg every month after puberty)

Facts about your ovaries

• You have two (one on each side of your womb), and they’re both about 4cm long.
• At puberty your ovaries start making hormones (oestrogen and progesterone), which cause your breasts to grow and your periods to start.
• Every month (after puberty) your ovaries release an egg, which travels down the fallopian tubes to the womb. The womb’s lining gets thicker, ready for an egg to be fertilised by a man’s sperm. If this doesn’t happen, the womb’s lining comes out of your vagina as blood - this is a period.  
• When she's about 50 a woman’s periods stop (called the menopause), because her ovaries have finished making hormones.

Types of ovarian cancer

There are different types of  ovarian cancer. The most common  type, which usually affects older women, is called epithelial ovarian cancer (or ovarian carcinoma).

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For more information about ovarian cancer in older women please see our broader ovarian cancer| section. 

 

Rarely, teenage girls and young women can get a type of ovarian cancer called a germ cell tumour of the ovary. This starts in the egg-producing cells of the ovary. These tumours behave differently to epithelial ovarian cancer, and they're treated in a different way. Germ cell ovarian tumours are usually cured with treatment.

There are 3 main types of ovarian cancer:

• epithelial tumours
• germ cell tumours
• stromal cell tumour.

Teenagers are mostly affected by the germ cell tumour type. You may hear your type of germ cell tumour being called:

• dysgerminoma
• teratoma
• yolk sac tumour.

Your specialist will explain more about the type of germ cell tumour that you have. If you have a type of ovarian cancer or germ cell tumour that's not listed here, talk to one of our cancer support specialists| to find out more.  

Causes

We don’t fully understand what causes germ cell tumours. Germ cells are a normal part of the ovary but sometimes, changes in these cells make them divide and grow too quickly and they form a tumour.