title: Factors influencing the choice of laparoscopy or laparotomy in pregnant women with presumptive benign ovarian tumors.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To evaluate the factors associated with physicians' choice of laparotomy or laparoscopy in pregnant women with presumptive benign ovarian tumors.
  
  
  METHODS
  Retrospective comparative analysis of pregnant women who underwent laparotomy or laparoscopy for ovarian tumors and who delivered at Samsung Medical Center, Seoul, Korea, between July 1995 and April 2008.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Univariate analysis revealed that the following factors had a significant or a borderline significant association with the choice of operation type: maternal age (P=0.044); surgeon type (professor vs clinical fellow; P=0.094); tumor mass size (P=0.081); gestational age (P=0.035); and time since surgery (P<0.001). Multivariate analysis showed that tumor size (P=0.030), gestational age (P=0.027), and time since surgery (P=0.004) were independent factors associated with physicians' choice of laparoscopy or laparotomy for the management of presumptive benign ovarian tumors during pregnancy.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  In the latter years of the present study, physicians at the study center preferred the laparoscopic approach for managing presumptive benign ovarian tumors during pregnancy. Furthermore, they preferred this approach to laparotomy for pregnancies at a relatively early gestational age and for treating small tumors.
authors.affiliation: Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Samsung Medical Center, Sungkyunkwan University School of Medicine, Seoul, Korea.
authors.forename: Yoo-Young
authors.initials: YY
authors.lastname: Lee
authors.forename: Tae-Joong
authors.initials: TJ
authors.lastname: Kim
authors.forename: Chel Hun
authors.initials: CH
authors.lastname: Choi
authors.forename: Jeong-Won
authors.initials: JW
authors.lastname: Lee
authors.forename: Byoung-Gie
authors.initials: BG
authors.lastname: Kim
authors.forename: Duk-Soo
authors.initials: DS
authors.lastname: Bae
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000367:Age Factors; D005260:Female; D005865:Gestational Age; D006801:Humans; D007723:Korea; D010535:Laparoscopy / Q000379:methods*; D007813:Laparotomy / Q000379:methods*; D015999:Multivariate Analysis; D010051:Ovarian Neoplasms / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000473:pathology; D011247:Pregnancy; D011252:Pregnancy Complications, Neoplastic / Q000175:diagnosis*; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D013997:Time Factors; D055815:Young Adult