Background & objective: Lymphadenectomy in pelvic and para-aortic is one of the contents of FIGO staging operation in ovary cancer. The significance of lymphadenectomy in patients with epithelial ovarian cancer at second exploratory operation is unclear. This study was designed to assess the significance of lymphadenectomy in the patients with epithelial ovarian cancer at second exploratory operation.
Methods: Fifteen patients with stage III and IV epithelial ovarian cancer were treated in the Cancer Hospital of Peking Union Medical College between July 1994 and October 1996 were analyzed retrospectively.
Results: The degrees of differentiation were as follows: high degree in 2 patients, moderate in 7, low in 6, of the 15 patients, none of them performed lymphadenectomy and none of them was lymph node positive at second look operation. Four of 10 patients with negative findings at second look operation were recurrent, but there were no positive findings in pelvic and para-aortic lymph node.
Conclusions: Lymphadenectomy at second look operation in patients with negative lymph node at primary surgery is unnecessary.