Prognostic factors and clinical outcome of patients with recurrent early-stage epithelial ovarian cancer: an Italian multicenter retrospective study.
OBJECTIVE
The objective of this study was to assess the clinical outcome of patients with recurrent early-stage ovarian cancer.


METHODS
The hospital records of 87 patients were reviewed. The median follow-up of survivors from recurrence was 87.6 months.


RESULTS
The 25%, 50%, and 75% quantiles of time to recurrence were 15, 25, and 44 months, respectively. The pelvis was the most common site of failure (39.1%), followed by abdomen (18.3%) and retroperitoneal nodes (18.3%). Treatment at recurrence consisted of chemotherapy in 46 patients, surgery plus chemotherapy in 29, surgery in 3, surgery plus radiotherapy in 2, and other therapies in 7. A macroscopically complete cytoreduction was obtained in 29 (85.2%) of the 34 patients who underwent secondary surgery. Five- and 7-year survival rates after recurrence were 34.3% and 29.6%. By log-rank test, survival after recurrence was related to patient age (≤60 vs. >60 years; P = 0.001), time to recurrence (>15 vs. ≤15 months; P = 0.049), site of recurrence (retroperitoneum vs pelvis vs other; P = 0.004), and surgery at recurrence (yes vs. not; P = 0.001), but not to substage, histotype, grade, prior adjuvant chemotherapy, examination that detected recurrence, and chemotherapy at recurrence. On multivariate analysis, patient age (hazard ratio, 1.836; 95% confidence interval, 1.060-3.180) and surgical treatment at recurrence (hazard ratio, 1.972; 95% confidence interval, 1.084-3.587) were independent prognostic variables for survival after recurrence.


CONCLUSIONS
Patient age and surgery at recurrence were independent prognostic variables for patients with recurrent early-stage ovarian cancer. When feasible, salvage surgery appears to give a survival advantage in this clinical setting.
Division of Gynecology and Obstetrics, Department of Clinical and Experimental Medicine, University of Pisa, Pisa, Italy. a.gadducci@obgyn.med.unipi.it
Angiolo
A
Gadducci
Stefania
S
Cosio
Paolo
P
Zola
Benedetta
B
Sostegni
Luca
L
Fuso
Enrico
E
Sartori
D018262:Adenocarcinoma, Clear Cell / Q000401:mortality* / Q000473:pathology / Q000628:therapy; D002288:Adenocarcinoma, Mucinous / Q000401:mortality* / Q000473:pathology / Q000628:therapy; D000328:Adult; D000367:Age Factors; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D000971:Antineoplastic Combined Chemotherapy Protocols / Q000627:therapeutic use; D003131:Combined Modality Therapy; D018284:Cystadenocarcinoma, Serous / Q000401:mortality* / Q000473:pathology / Q000628:therapy; D016889:Endometrial Neoplasms / Q000401:mortality* / Q000473:pathology / Q000628:therapy; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006801:Humans; D007558:Italy; D008875:Middle Aged; D060787:Neoplasm Grading; D009364:Neoplasm Recurrence, Local / Q000401:mortality* / Q000473:pathology / Q000628:therapy; D009367:Neoplasm Staging; D010051:Ovarian Neoplasms / Q000401:mortality* / Q000473:pathology / Q000628:therapy; D010534:Peritoneal Neoplasms / Q000401:mortality* / Q000473:pathology / Q000628:therapy; D011379:Prognosis; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D015996:Survival Rate; D055815:Young Adult