Epithelial ovarian tumors of borderline malignancy: a study of 50 cases

Of 50 patients with borderline epithelial ovarian tumors, 32 (64%) had serous, 17 (34%) had mucinous and one (2%) had endometrioid tumor. All patients with mucinous tumor had stage I disease, whereas 4 patients with serous tumor had stage II–III disease. Five patients (10%) were pregnant at the time of diagnosis. Seventeen patients (34%) had initial surgery with ovarian conservation and 7 of them were not subjected to further surgery. Five patients (10%) received adjuvant chemotherapy. Five-year survival and 5-year disease-free survival rates were 100% and 96.4%, respectively. It is concluded that for patients with stage IA disease unilateral salpingo-oophorectomy seems to be adequate treatment and for those with more than stage IA disease, surgery should include total abdominal hysterectomy and bilateral salpingo-oophorectomy. Although the effectiveness of chemotherapy in these tumors is uncertain, adjuvant chemotherapy is advocated for patients in whom spread of the tumor beyond the ovaries has occurred.