title: Port-site metastases after open laparoscopy: a study in 173 patients with advanced ovarian carcinoma.
abstract: Open laparoscopy was used to diagnose advanced ovarian cancer. Patients with a pelvic mass and an omental cake and/or large-volume ascites were selected for open laparoscopy. One hundred and seventy-three patients with stage III or IV ovarian carcinoma underwent diagnostic open laparoscopy. Seventy-one patients underwent complete excision of port sites at the time of debulking surgery. Thirty (17%) patients developed port-site metastases. However, only 8 (5%) of these port-site metastases were clinically diagnosed, while 22 out of 71 (31%) with complete port-site excision were diagnosed on pathologic examination. There was no significant relationship between the development of port-site metastases and median time to primary chemotherapy or surgery, the presence of ascites, or stage IV disease. All port-site metastases disappeared during primary therapy, and none of the patients developed a second relapse in one of their port sites. We observed a high rate of port-site metastases after laparoscopy in patients with advanced ovarian carcinoma. However, prognosis was not worse in this group of patients. Laparoscopy is a convenient technique to diagnose advanced ovarian carcinoma, to exclude other primary tumors, and to refer patients to a tertiary center.
authors.affiliation: Division of Gynaecological Oncology, Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, University Hospitals Leuven, Leuven, Belgium. ignace.vergote@uz.kuleuven.ac.be
authors.forename: I
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Vergote
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Marquette
authors.forename: F
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Amant
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Berteloot
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Neven
mesh_terms: D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D010535:Laparoscopy / Q000009:adverse effects*; D009362:Neoplasm Metastasis / Q000473:pathology*; D009367:Neoplasm Staging; D010051:Ovarian Neoplasms / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000473:pathology* / Q000601:surgery