Retrospective analysis of survival in 81 women with early epithelial ovarian carcinoma who had not undergone systematic lymphadenectomy

Abstract

Objective: This study aims to investigate whether postoperative adjuvant chemotherapy had any influence on the survival rate of those women with early ovarian carcinoma who did not receive pelvic lymphadenectomy and secondary surgery. Methods: This work conducted a retrospective review on all apparently stage I epithelial ovarian carcinoma patients who had not undergone lymphadenectomy in Queen Mary hospital, Hong Kong, within a ten-year period, from January of 1992 to December of 2002. Results: This work collected the clinical data from 81 patients. Twenty-three patients were apparently at stage IA, 1 patient at stage IB, and 57 patients at stage IC. The mean age was 47 years old (21-81 years) and the median follow-up period was 110 months (50-179 months). Totally 64 (79.0%) patients received adjuvant chemotherapy. The 5-year overall survival rate was 91.4% and 4-year progression free survival rate was 85.2%, which were similar to the survival rates described in the literature for patients who had undergone systematic lymphadenectomy. Conclusion: With provision of appropriate adjuvant chemotherapy, women with apparent stage I disease who have not undergone pelvic lymphadenectomy may achieve similar long-term survival rate to those who have undergone systematic lymphadectomy.