Epithelial ovarian tumors pathophysiology
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Epithelial ovarian tumors Microchapters |
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Differentiating Epithelial Ovarian Tumors from other Diseases |
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Diagnosis |
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Treatment |
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Epithelial ovarian tumors pathophysiology On the Web |
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Editor-In-Chief: C. Michael Gibson, M.S., M.D. [1]Associate Editor(s)-in-Chief: Hannan Javed, M.D.[2]
Overview
Surface epithelium of ovaries (OSE), once mistakenly referred as germinal epithelium, consists of single layer of flat to cuboidal epithelial cells. It is characterized by keratin types found in simple epithelium and functions in exchange between peritoneal cavity and the ovaries in addition to ovarian cycle. During embryonic development, surface epithelium of ovaries is a part of celomic epithelium. The future surface epithelium of ovaries then forms part of gonadal blastema and then undergoes a transformation cycle, multilayered papillary epithelium develops from simple flat to cuboidal epithelium but reverts back to simple flat to cuboidal epithelium by term. The most important functions of human surface epithelium of ovaries are its role in transport and exchange between peritoneal cavity and ovaries, and its function in repair and rupture during ovulation. Ovarian surface epithelium undergo epithelio-mesenchymal transformation to replace ovarian stroma in ovulatory repair. The previous proposition regarding the origin of epithelial ovarian cancers was that these tumors originated from surface epithelium of the ovaries and the neoplastic and metaplastic changes led to their differentiation into various histological subtypes such as serous tumors, clear cell carcinoma and endometrioid tumors. But apparent consistencies in this theory has led to development of alternate theories such as origin of neoplastic cells from fallopian tubes and endometrium.