title: Early ovarian cancer: value of a negative staging laparotomy.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To assess the risk of recurrence in patients with stage I (negative cytology) epithelial ovarian cancer receiving no adjuvant therapy.
  
  
  METHODS
  Between 1976 and 1991, 51 patients with apparent stage I ovarian cancer underwent a comprehensive surgical staging that included: peritoneal cytology, omentectomy, pelvic and para-aortic lumphadenectomy, peritoneal biopsies and either unilateral salpingo-oophorectomy or TAH and BSO.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Eleven of 51 patients (22%) were found to have stage II or III disease based on a positive staging laparotomy. Thirty-seven of 40 patients with stage I disease received no further therapy. There was one recurrence (stage 1C - grade 1) in patients with surgical stage 1C while there were no recurrences in patients with either stage 1A or 1B disease.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  This study concludes that surgical staging in apparent early stage ovarian cancer can identify a group of patients that require surgical therapy alone.
authors.affiliation: Department of Obstetrics, Gynecology and Reproductive Sciences, University of Manitoba Winnipeg, Canada.
authors.forename: W
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Faught
authors.forename: R J
authors.initials: RJ
authors.lastname: Lotocki
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Heywood
authors.forename: G V
authors.initials: GV
authors.lastname: Krepart
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007813:Laparotomy; D008875:Middle Aged; D009364:Neoplasm Recurrence, Local; D009367:Neoplasm Staging; D010051:Ovarian Neoplasms / Q000473:pathology*