Mortality rate refers to the number of people dying due to a particular affliction. Ovarian cancer is a predominantly destructive cancer and is rarely detected in its early stages. It is the gynecological cancer with the highest mortality rate. Ovarian cancer is the fourth leading cause of cancer death in women after lung, breast, and colorectal cancer.

Ovarian cancer is responsible for 5% of all cancer deaths among women. In the year 2004 itself there has been around 16,090 deaths of American women from ovarian cancer. In the last five-years, mortality rates decreased from 63% in 1974 to lesser than 50% currently. Mortality rates differ depending on age and the stage at which detected. Five-year mortality rates are less than10%, if the cancer is still contained within the ovary at diagnosis. If it has spread to nearby areas in the pelvis, the mortality rate rises to between 20% and 40% and if it has spread beyond that then the mortality rate is at an all time high of 70% to 90%.

In spite of the rate not having changed much since 1973, the mortality rate has decreased by about 12%. It is estimated that about 1 in 57 women in the United States die due to the malignancy. The ratio of deaths to incidence is around 58.3%.

The mortality rate for ovarian cancer patients is not very good. This is largely due to the trouble of diagnosing. Ovarian cancer can only be diagnosed for certain, with invasive surgery. Unfortunately, most patients with ovarian cancer are not diagnosed until the disease is advanced. This involves spreading of the disease to the upper abdomen. Thus, it becomes very late to carry out operative as well as radiation treatments on the patients. If the disease is detected in the early stages, it is curable in a number of patients.