Objective: To investigate the impact of pelvic and para-aortic lymphadenectomy during primary debulking surgery (PDS) on recurrence pattern and survival after recurrence in patients with advanced epithelial ovarian cancer (EOC) without suspected lymph node (LN) metastasis in preoperative imaging studies and intraoperative findings.
Methods: A retrospective review of patients with FIGO stage III and IV EOC without suspected lymph node metastasis was performed. Patients with stage III EOC due to LN metastasis without peritoneal disease were excluded from this study. Survival comparisons for progression-free survival (PFS), overall survival (OS), and survival after recurrence were performed between patients with or without lymphadenectomy.
Results: Of the 261 EOC patients fulfilling inclusion criteria, 194 (74.3%) experienced relapse and a further 132 (50.6%) died within a median follow-up period of 48months (range, 6-139months). Patterns of recurrence and CA-125 level at recurrence were not different between patients with lymphadenectomy and without lymphadenectomy; however, patients with lymphadenectomy showed longer survival after recurrence than those without lymphadenectomy (43 vs. 32months, p=0.013). This difference was pronounced in the group with residual tumor <1cm (48 vs. 30months, p=0.010). The survival advantage of lymphadenectomy after recurrence remained significant in multivariate analysis (HR 0.57, 95% CI 0.38-0.84, p=0.005).
Conclusions: Lymphadenectomy during PDS was associated with longer survival, especially survival after recurrence. The underlying mechanism should be elucidated in future studies.
Keywords: Lymphadenectomy; Ovarian neoplasm; Prognosis.
Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.