The good news first: I had a diagnosis of a stage II borderline serous ovarian tumour (BOT). This is different to “typical” ovarian cancer and is normally treated with surgery alone. Prognosis is excellent.
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I had never heard of BOT and have learned a lot over the past months. I am incredibly fortunate; few epithelial tumours (about 10%) are found to be borderline.
BOTs may become cancerous and there is a reasonable chance of recurrence and so monitoring over the coming years with blood tests (CA125) and ultrasound will be essential.
It appears that BOTs raise some controversy within the gynae/oncology community with some calls for different naming of these tumours, linked to the possibility of some to transform into cancerous (malignant) tumours. However, it’s not possible to properly predict the likelihood of this occuring. If you have time/energy/interest, you can find a good (long) overview/paper of BOTs and these controversies here.
A concise overview from the Cancer Research UK site about Borderline ovarian tumours is as follows:
Borderline ovarian tumours are different to ovarian cancer because they do not grow into the supportive tissue of the ovary (the stroma). They are also called tumours of low malignant potential. About 10 out of 100 epithelial ovarian tumours (10%) are borderline tumours.
Borderline ovarian tumours grow slowly and most are diagnosed at an early stage, when the abnormal cells are still within the ovary. Abnormal cells can sometimes break away from the tumour and settle elsewhere in the body, usually the abdomen. These do not usually grow into the underlying tissue. They are called non invasive implants.
Borderline ovarian tumours are treated in a different way to ovarian cancers and are usually cured with surgery alone.
jozi-ovari 
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