Second-look laparotomy in stage I ovarian cancer following comprehensive surgical staging.
OBJECTIVE
To evaluate the role of second-look laparotomy in patients with comprehensively staged stage I epithelial ovarian cancer.


METHODS
We reviewed the medical records and obtained long-term follow-up on 54 stage I patients who had second-look laparotomies following complete surgical staging and chemotherapy.


RESULTS
The distribution by stage was as follows: stage IA 18 (33%), stage IB two (4%), and stage IC 34 (63%). Eighteen patients (33%) had endometrioid tumors, 12 (22%) clear cell, 13 (24%) mucinous, eight (15%) serous, and three (6%) undifferentiated. Forty-four patients (82%) had grade 2 or 3 tumors. Thirty-eight (70%) were treated with platinum-based regimens and 16 (30%) received non-platinum regimens. At second-look laparotomy, tumor was identified in three women (5.5%). Stage, cell type, and grade did not predict the second-look laparotomy result, although no patient with a grade 1 tumor had a positive second-look laparotomy. With a mean follow-up of 48 months from second-look laparotomy, 11 women (22%) have had recurrences following negative second looks. Tumor grade was a strong predictor of recurrence following negative second-look laparotomy (P < .0001), with the risk of recurrence being 0% for grades 1 and 2 and 52% for grade 3. Substage, cell type, and chemotherapy type and duration did not predict recurrence.


CONCLUSIONS
The likelihood of a positive second-look laparotomy is about 5% in well-staged stage I ovarian cancer. Patients with stage I, grade 3 tumors have a risk of recurrence of approximately 50% following negative second-look laparotomy.
Department of Surgery, Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, New York, New York.
S C
SC
Rubin
W B
WB
Jones
J P
JP
Curtin
R R
RR
Barakat
T B
TB
Hakes
W J
WJ
Hoskins
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D002277:Carcinoma / Q000473:pathology / Q000556:secondary / Q000601:surgery* / Q000628:therapy; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007813:Laparotomy; D008875:Middle Aged; D009367:Neoplasm Staging; D010051:Ovarian Neoplasms / Q000473:pathology / Q000601:surgery* / Q000628:therapy; D012086:Reoperation