Ovarian cancer can begin in an ovary. Related cancers can start in a fallopian tube or the lining inside the abdomen and are often discussed as one group.
The ovaries are reproductive organs on either side of the uterus. The fallopian tubes carry eggs from the ovaries toward the uterus. The peritoneum is the lining inside the abdomen. Cancer can start in any of these distinct sites. Medicine often discusses and treats ovarian, fallopian-tube, and primary-peritoneal cancers as one related group, without implying that every cancer in the group began in an ovary. The name also does not give the stage, which describes how far cancer has spread, or the outlook.
Symptoms, examination, and imaging can raise concern, but they do not always establish the diagnosis. Tissue examination is usually needed for confirmation. A cyst, mass, symptom, or blood-test result is therefore not automatically the same as ovarian cancer.

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