title: The role of appendectomy in surgical procedures for ovarian cancer.
abstract: To assess the role of appendectomy in the surgical procedures for ovarian cancer, we evaluated retrospectively the clinical charts of 435 patients who underwent surgery after diagnosis of ovarian cancer. The appendix was removed in 160 cases and pathological examination revealed 37 with metastatic implants (23%). All the patients with appendiceal metastases showed advanced disease (stages III-IV) with an incidence of 43%. Ninety-one percent (31/34) of the tumors with appendiceal involvement at the staging operation were of the serous cell type and grade II or III. No case with early stage, right ovary carcinoma showed appendiceal metastatic foci, denying the existence of a preferential lymphatic pathway. Microscopic involvement was found only in 4 patients with advanced disease (11.7%). No intra- or postoperative complication directly related to the appendectomy was recorded. We conclude, with these results, that appendectomy should be part of the cytoreductive operation for ovarian cancer.
authors.affiliation: Divisione di Oncologia Chirugica Ginecologica, Istituto Nazionale dei Tunori, Milan, Italy.
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Fontanelli
authors.forename: D
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Paladini
authors.forename: F
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Raspagliesi
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: di Re
mesh_terms: D001062:Appendectomy; D001063:Appendiceal Neoplasms / Q000556:secondary* / Q000601:surgery; D003536:Cystadenocarcinoma / Q000556:secondary / Q000601:surgery; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D009367:Neoplasm Staging; D010051:Ovarian Neoplasms / Q000473:pathology / Q000601:surgery*; D012189:Retrospective Studies