IS ROUTINE APPENDECTOMY BENEFICIAL IN THE MANAGEMENT OF OVARIAN-CANCER

A retrospective analysis of 136 patients with ovarian carcinoma subjec ted to appendectomy as a part of surgical procedure was carried out to assess the importance of appendectomy in patients with ovarian cancer . Of the 136 patients studied, 94 had epithelial and 38 had non-epithe lial type of primary ovarian carcinoma. In the remaining 4 patients, t he primary operation was performed with an intraoperative diagnosis of ovarian carcinoma but the final pathological examination revealed app endiceal carcinoma metastatic to ovaries. The overall appendiceal invo lvement in the study group with primary ovarian cancer was found to be 32.5% (43/132). This figure was 15.7% and 39.3% for non-epithelial an d epithelial tumors, respectively. Involvement of the appendix ranged from 8.8% for patients with stage I disease to 46.0% for patients with stage III-IV disease. Four of the appendices found to be inflamed dur ing the surgical explorations were later reported as acute appendiciti s. The frequent occurrence of metastatic disease in the appendix in pa tients with ovarian cancer suggests routine appendectomy is appropriat e for staging early cases and for contributing to maximal cytoreductio n in advanced cases.