Chromosomal aberrations in 22 Koreans with ovarian carcinomas were investigated by degenerate oligonucleotide primed-polymerase chain reaction comparative genomic hybridization. The common sites of copy number increases were 20q (90%), 17q23 approximately qter (86%), 8q22 approximately qter (68%), 3q25 approximately qter (59%), 6p21 (59%), 11q13 (54%), 16p (40%), 2q31 approximately qter (36%), 7q (36%), 14q31 (36%), 15q24 approximately qter (36%), and 1q32 approximately qter (31%). DNA amplification was identified in 18 carcinomas (82%). The frequent sites of amplification were 20q13.2 approximately qter, 8q24.1, 17q23 approximately qter, 3q25 approximately qter, and 6p21. The most frequent sites of copy number decreases were 4q21 approximately q31 (54%), 5q13 approximately q21 (50%), and 13q14 approximately q21 (45%). The recurrent gains and losses of chromosomal regions identified in this study provide candidate regions that may contain oncogenes or tumor suppressor genes, respectively.