Grading ovarian cancer

Grading describes how the cancer cells look compared to normal, healthy cells. Knowing the grade gives your healthcare team an idea of how quickly the cancer may be growing and how likely it is to spread. This helps them plan your treatment. The grade can also help the healthcare team predict future outcomes (prognosis) and how the cancer might respond to treatment.

To find out the grade of ovarian, fallopian tube or primary peritoneal cancer, a pathologist looks at a tissue sample from the ovaries, fallopian tubes or peritoneum under a microscope. They look at how different the cells look from normal cells (called differentiation). They also look at other features of the tumour such as the size and shape of the cells and how the cells are arranged. They can usually tell how fast a tumour is growing by looking at how many cells are dividing.

Serous carcinoma is the most common type of ovarian and fallopian tube cancer. The pathologist will describe these cancers as low or high grade. Other types of ovarian, fallopian tube and primary peritoneal cancer are given a grade from 1 to 3. A lower number means the cancer is a lower grade.

Low-grade cancers have cancer cells that are well differentiated. Although abnormal, these cells look a lot like normal cells and are arranged a lot like normal cells. Lower-grade cancer cells tend to grow slowly and are less likely to spread.

High-grade cancers have cancer cells that are poorly differentiated or undifferentiated. The cells don't look like normal cells and are arranged very differently. Higher-grade cancers tend to grow more quickly and are more likely to spread than low-grade cancers.