Is lymphadenectomy necessary in mucinous ovarian cancer? A single institution experience

Abstract

Background: According to the International Federation of Gynecology and Obstetrics (FIGO) guidelines, every patient diagnosed with ovarian cancer (OC) should undergo a complete staging procedure to adequately assess tumor spread. The role of lymphadenectomy in the initial management of primary early mucinous ovarian cancer (MOC) remains unclear.

Objective: To describe the prevalence of pelvic and para-aortic node metastases in MOC.

Materials and methods: The records of patients with MOC treated at our Institute during January 2005 to December 2011 were assessed. A descriptive and comparative analysis was conducted. Overall survival (OS) and diseases-free period (DFP) were calculated with the Kaplan-Meier method and were compared with the log-rank test.

Results: Of 31 patients with MOC, 14 (45.16%) underwent lymphadenectomy, obtaining 190 pelvic nodes, with a median of 9 pelvic lymph nodes removed per patient (interquartile range = 15). There was no evidence of metastatic disease in the dissected pelvic nodes.

Conclusion: These results suggest that complete surgical staging with lymph node dissection has no effect on recurrence, disease-free period, and overall survival of patients with early stage MOC.

Keywords: Early stage; Lymph node metastasis; Lymphadenectomy; Mucinous ovarian cancer.