title: Clinical relevance of various microscopical features of the second-look specimen in advanced ovarian cancer.
abstract: The second-look specimens of 70 patients with advanced ovarian cancer (FIGO 2B, 3, and 4) were reviewed and classified according to four categories: no response to chemotherapy (category a), predominantly histologically viable tumor with some necrotic and/or fibrotic tissue (category b), predominance of fibrosis and recrosis (category c), and no evidence of tumor, i.e., pathologically proven complete response (PCR) (category d). All of the patients in categories a and b had died because of ovarian cancer at the end of the observation period. In category c, 17/25 patients eventually achieved a PCR as established at a third-look procedure. The median survival of 56 months in this group was lower than that of the patients in category d (64 months), although this difference was without statistical significance. These observations underscore the importance of the microscopical features of the second-look specimen for the treatment of advanced ovarian cancer.
authors.affiliation: Department of Clinical Oncology, Leiden University Hospital, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: C J
authors.initials: CJ
authors.lastname: Rodenburg
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Schaberg
authors.forename: B J
authors.initials: BJ
authors.lastname: Trimbos
authors.forename: A T
authors.initials: AT
authors.lastname: van Oosterom
authors.forename: G J
authors.initials: GJ
authors.lastname: Fleuren
mesh_terms: D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D010051:Ovarian Neoplasms / Q000401:mortality / Q000473:pathology* / Q000628:therapy; D011379:Prognosis