Long-term survival of young women receiving fertility-sparing surgery for ovarian cancer in comparison with those undergoing radical surgery

OBJECTIVES: To compare the clinical outcome of patients with stage I epithelial ovarian cancer (EOC) who received with fertility-sparing surgery (FSS) with those who underwent radical surgery (RS). METHODS: After a central pathological review and search of the medical records from multiple institutions, a total of 572 patients were retrospectively evaluated. All patients were divided into three groups: group A {FSS (n = 74); age, <= 40}; groups B and C [RS; age, 40 >={(B), n = 52}; 40<{(C), n = 446}]. RESULTS: Five-year overall survival (OS) and disease-free survival (DFS) rates of patients in the groups were as follows: group A, 90.8% (OS)/87.9% (DFS); group B, 88.3% (OS)/84.4% (DFS); group C, 90.6% (OS)/85.3% (DFS), respectively (OS, P = 0.802; DFS, P = 0.765). Additionally, there was no significant difference in OS and DFS among the three groups stratified to stage IA or IC (OS (IA), P = 0.387; DFS (IA), P = 0.314; OS (IC), P = 0.993; DFS (IC), P = 0.990, respectively). Furthermore, patients with a grade 1-2 or 3 tumours in the FSS group did not have a poorer prognosis than those in the RS group. CONCLUSIONS: Stage I EOC patients treated with FSS showed an acceptable prognosis compared with those who underwent RS. British Journal of Cancer (2011) 105, 1288-1294. doi:10.1038/bjc.2011.394 www.bjcancer.com Published online 4 October 2011 (C) 2011 Cancer Research UK