LAPAROSCOPIC STAGING OF EARLY, OVARIAN-CANCER

The relevance of staging in early ovarian carcinoma is reviewed in lig ht of the advances in surgical laparoscopy. Data from the literature s uggest that a lymphadenectomy should be performed instead of a samplin g. We have realized the former through laparoscopy. In this paper we p ropose a detailed surgical technique, similar to the laparotomy approa ch, that ensures an adequate nodal evaluation. Ten patients underwent a completion of staging by laparoscopy, including peritoneal washings for cytology, peritoneal and ovarian biopsies, an infracolic omentecto my, and a lymph node dissection. The use of laparoscopy for staging of early ovarian carcinoma appears to be a valuable alternative to tradi tional surgical staging. (C) 1995 Academic Press, Inc.