Aim: The effect of systematic retroperitoneal lymphadenectomy (SRL) remains controversial in patients with advanced epithelial ovarian cancer (aEOC) who are optimally debulked.
Material and methods: Demographic and clinicopathologic data were obtained from the Tokai Ovarian Tumor Study Group between 1986 and 2009. All patients were divided into two groups. Group A (n = 93): (i) patients did not undergo SRL; and (ii) lymph node exploration or sampling was optional. Group B (n = 87): patients underwent SRL. Survival curves were calculated using the Kaplan-Meier method. Differences in survival rates were analyzed using the log-rank test.
Results: All pT3-4 aEOC patients were optimally debulked (residual tumor <1 cm). The median age was 55 years (range: 18-84). The 5-year progression-free survival (PFS) rates of groups A and B were 46.7 and 41.9%, respectively (P = 0.658). In addition, the 5-year overall survival (OS) rates were 62.9 and 59.0%, respectively (P = 0.853). Subsequently, there was no significant difference in OS and PFS in the two groups stratified to histological type (serous or non-serous type). Furthermore, there was no significant difference in recurrence rates in retroperitoneal lymph nodes regardless of completion of lymphadenectomy.
Conclusion: Our data suggest that aEOC patients with optimal cytoreduction who underwent SRL did not show a significant improvement in survival irrespective of each histological type.
© 2012 The Authors. Journal of Obstetrics and Gynaecology Research © 2012 Japan Society of Obstetrics and Gynecology.