title: A retrospective analysis of clinicopathological and prognostic characteristics of ovarian tumors in the State of Espírito Santo, Brazil.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Ovarian cancer is sixth most common cancer among women and the leading cause of death in women with gynecological malignancies. Despite the great impact ovarian cancer has on women's health and its great impact in public economy, Brazil still lacks valuable information concerning epidemiological aspects of this disease
  
  
  METHODS
  We've compiled clinical data of all ovarian tumors registered at the two public hospitals of reference (1997 - 2007), such as: patients' age at diagnosis, tumor histological type, tumor stage, chemotherapy regimens, chemotherapy responsiveness, disease-free survival, and overall survival.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Women's mean age at diagnosis was 54.67 ± 13.84 for ovarian cancer, 46.15 ± 11.15 for borderline tumors, and 42.01 ± 15.06 for adenomas. Among epithelial ovarian cancer cases, 30.1% were of serous, 13.7% were of mucinous, and 13.7% were of endometrioid type; exceptionally serous carcinoma was diagnosed in women younger than 30 years old. Endometrioid cancer had lower disease-free survival than others (p < 0.05). Cases were predominantly diagnosed as poor prognosis disease (FIGO III and IV, 56.2%). Regarding responsiveness to platinum-based therapy, 17.1% of patients were resistant, whereas 24.6%, susceptible. From these, we found equally responsiveness to platinum alone or its association with paclitaxel or cyclophosphamide.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Our data agreed with other studies regarding mean patients' age at diagnosis, histological type frequency, FIGO stages distribution, and chemotherapy regimens. However, the histological type distribution, with equal contribution of mucinous and endometrioid types seems to be a unique characteristic of the studied highly miscegenated population.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  We have enlighten the profile of the studied ovarian cancer population, which might enable the development of more efficient political strategies to control this malignancy that is the fifth leading cause of cancer-related deaths among women.
authors.affiliation: Laboratório de Biologia Celular e Molecular do Câncer Humano, Departamento de Ciências Farmacêuticas, 2° Andar, Sala 08, Centro de Ciências da Saúde, Universidade Federal do Espírito Santo, Maruípe, Vitória, ES - Brazil, CEP: 29043-900. lbarangel@yahoo.com.
authors.forename: Marcela F
authors.initials: MF
authors.lastname: Paes
authors.forename: Renata D
authors.initials: RD
authors.lastname: Daltoé
authors.forename: Klesia P
authors.initials: KP
authors.lastname: Madeira
authors.forename: Lucas Cd
authors.initials: LC
authors.lastname: Rezende
authors.forename: Gabriela M
authors.initials: GM
authors.lastname: Sirtoli
authors.forename: Alice L
authors.initials: AL
authors.lastname: Herlinger
authors.forename: Leticia S
authors.initials: LS
authors.lastname: Souza
authors.forename: Luciana B
authors.initials: LB
authors.lastname: Coitinho
authors.forename: Débora
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Silva
authors.forename: Murilo F
authors.initials: MF
authors.lastname: Cerri
authors.forename: Ana Cristina N
authors.initials: AC
authors.lastname: Chiaradia
authors.forename: Alex A
authors.initials: AA
authors.lastname: Carvalho
authors.forename: Ian V
authors.initials: IV
authors.lastname: Silva
authors.forename: Leticia Ba
authors.initials: LB
authors.lastname: Rangel