Article Text
PDF
Abstract
Introduction/Background Centralization of ovarian cancer (OVCA) treatment is known to be associated with prolonged survival. However, preoperative diagnosis might be challenging and sometimes the diagnosis is made unexpectedly after histological work-up. Aim of this study is to evaluate the oncological outcome of patients with incidental findings of OVCA or borderline ovarian tumors (BOT).
Baseline clinicopathological characterists among the different study groups
Methodology This epidemiological study includes patients with suspicious adnexal mass undergoing surgical treatment at the Bern University Hospital, Switzerland between 2010 and 2020. Patients were allocated in two groups as follows (figure 1): group 1 consists of patients referred to our tertiary institution preoperatively due to suspected malignancy. Group 2 comprises patients with incidental findings of OVCA or BOT operated at a non-tertiary center that were referred to our institution postoperatively for completion of surgical staging and adjuvant treatment.
Baseline clinicopathological characterists among the different study groups
Results Out of 390 patients, 224 were diagnosed with BOT or OVCA. Clinicopathological data are provided in Table 1, mean follow-up was 63 months. Compared to patients in group 1, patients in group 2 underwent a higher number of surgical interventions (2.1 vs. 1.3, P < .001), showed a longer time from diagnosis until start of chemotherapy (45 vs. 33 days, P= .006), and from diagnosis until completion of staging surgery (73 vs. 32 days, P < .001). Incidental diagnosis was not associated with increased risk of recurrence in patients with BOT (HR 4.6, 95% CI 0.4–52.3, P= .216), early stage (HR 0.6, 95% CI 0.2–1.7, P= .348) or advanced stage (HR 0.9, 95% CI 0.5–1.5, P= .631) OVCA.
Conclusion Although patients with incidental findings of OVCA or BOT have a longer time until completion of surgical staging and start of chemotherapy our results showed no compromise in oncological outcome. Our findings further highlight the importance of an untimely referral of these patients to a tertiary centre.