CONTRIBUTION OF COMPUTED-TOMOGRAPHY IN RE LATION TO ADVANCED STAGES OF OVARIAN-CANCER - EXPERIENCE OF 72 CASES

Objective of the study : to place computed tomography (CT) in the eval uation of advanced stages of ovarian tumors throughout two years exper ience (1991-1992) of a Cancer Medical Center. Materials and methods : study of 72 pelvic-abdominal CT examinations of 47 patients in stages III and IV, at the time of the initial diagnosis or during the treatme nt. The equipment used is a General Electric CE 10000. The technique w as conventional (digestive and intravenous opacification). These exami nations were performed by practicing radiologists exclusively in cance rological units.Results : carried out in immediate post-operative pati ents incompletely surgically examined, CT allows the quantification of residue and therefore a new staging in two-thirds of the cases. In th e process of adjuvant chemotherapy, CT reveals the persistence of resi due in 71 % of the cases with therapy implications. At the time of fol low-up, CT is revealing of abnormalities in 74 % of the cases carried out to systematic content, in 60 % of the cases with concomitant eleva tion of CA 125 level. Abnormalities are always present when CT is carr ied out from clinical symptoms and elevation of CA 125 level (3 cases in 3). Localized recurrence was only described in 7,6 % of the cases. Conclusion : CT is of relative usefulness for the assessment and surve illance of advanced stages of cancers. If contributes with accordance to the literature clarifying the criteria as ''impossibility'' of rese ction and according to our serie, it contributes in redefining the sta ge; it participates, during the process of adjuvant therapy of avoidin g the unuseful second-look procedures, without predicting ''complete r esponse''; finally it participates during the follow-up to the collect ion of the localized recurrence only situation susceptible to benefit from an efficient surgical treatment.