LONG-TERM FOLLOW-UP OF WOMEN WITH BORDERLINE OVARIAN-TUMORS

Objective: To examine the long-term survival of patients with borderli ne ovarian carcinomas. Method: A population-based retrospective analys is of patients registered with West Midlands Regional Cancer Registry, The files of all patients registered with ovarian carcinoma during th e triennium 1985-1987 were examined and those with borderline ovarian carcinomas identified. Results: During the period, 1654 patients were registered, of whom 1344 had histologically confirmed ovarian carcinom a. From these 54 (4%) patients had borderline tumors - all Stage I or II. Follow-up ranged from 5 to 10 years, with only 2 patients identifi ed where death was due to recurrent ovarian malignancy. Conclusions: E pidemiological studies avoid the bias associated with hospital-based s eries, and enable a crude evaluation of practice standards. From this series certain areas were identified where management could be improve d. Thus the information gleaned can be utilized to address such issues , and comparative studies performed in the future to assess the impact of any changes made. The series confirms the excellent prognosis asso ciated with early stage borderline ovarian carcinomas.