Breast cancer Vs Ovarian cancer

[ajay777]

hi doctor ,  

Could you please give me a bit of information as which cancer is more severe is it Ovarian Cancer 3C or Breast Cancer 3C ? which cancer has a higher 5 year survival percentage and what are the recurrence statics for these cancers in comparasion stage remaining constant( 3C ) ? usally in ovarian cancer if even few lymph nodes are involved they say the prognosis is poor , but generally in breast cancer a lot of lymph nodes are usally involved, what is the reason for this statement ?

[Fernando Roque, MD]

Hi.  Breast cancer and ovarian cancer are two very different and distinct disease entities and are not really comparable even if they are of the same stage.  This is because there are so many factors other than the stage, which determines severity and lethality in breast and ovarian cancer.  For example, increased levels of the human epidermal growth factor receptor Her-2 is a big factor in determining a poorer prognosis and more severe disease in breast cancer.  But it is not a prognostic factor at all in ovarian cancer.  Nor is there a molecule of comparative prognostic significance in ovarian cancer.

I suppose that in terms of absolute lethality, breast cancer is the more severe disease.  It causes nearly 400,000 deaths in the United States yearly, compared to around 15,000 deaths per year for ovarian cancer.