Staging of ovarian cancer allows medical professionals to figure out the extent of the condition down to its locality. It is imperative to understand the scope of cell growth in the affected region for proper diagnosis. Identifying the stage will also help medical professionals asses the severity of the symptoms to determine a proper recourse for treatment.

Ovarian cancer has four primary stages along with multiple substages that explain the spread of cancer in detail. The International Federation of Gynecology and Obstetrics and American Joint Committee on Cancer use the TNM system for diagnosis. The TNM system determines the extent of the tumor, the spread to lymph nodes, and the extent of metastasis to distant sites.

This article gives a brief overview of all the stages of ovarian cancer:

Stage I (T1)
The cancer is mainly confined to the ovaries and does not spread outside the general area. Substage grouping T1 indicates the mutation of cells starting in the fallopian tubes that rarely spread to the lymph nodes located nearby. Stage T1a, on the other hand, indicates cancer has started growing in one of the ovaries but is confined within as no cancer cells develop on the outer surface of the fallopian tubes. Stage T1b is a more serious stage where cancer affects both the ovaries but the growth is isolated within the organ. Stage T1c indicates that cancer has spread to both the ovaries and the possibility of a surgical spill resulting in cancer cells leaking into the abdomen and pelvis is also high but the risk of metastasis is low in this case.

Stage II (T2)
There is an increased risk of cancer spreading to nearby organs after it develops in the ovaries and fallopian tubes. The uncontrolled cell growth can manifest itself in and around vital organs including the uterus, bladder, sigmoid colon, or even the rectum in the pelvic area. Furthermore, in substages T2, T2a, and T2b, the tumor grows on the outer layer of the pelvic region.

Stage III (T3)
In stage III, primary peritoneal cancer (a form of ovarian cancer) spreads to the nearby organs in the pelvic region. Ovarian cancer in this stage also affects the retroperitoneal lymph nodes but still has not spread to distant sites. Although the lymph nodes are affected, cancer does not fully achieve metastasis in the third stage. Substages T3a and T3b exhibit similar symptoms of a developing condition and can also affect the functioning of the liver and spleen. At substage T3c, the deposits of cancerous cells are no more than 3/4 ^th of an inch and gradually develop outside the spleen and liver but do not achieve full metastasis.

Stage IV (T4)
In the advanced stages of ovarian cancer, the growth can result in malignant pleural effusion, a condition that leads to the buildup of fluid around the lungs. There is also a high possibility of the cells achieving metastasis as the tumor spreads to distant organs using the lymph nodes.

Treatment of ovarian cancer will purely depend on the stage in which the cancer is detected as the extent of the growth, spread, and possibility of metastasis significantly affect the survival rates accordingly.