Primary epithelial ovarian carcinoma in Taiwanese women

Purpose of investigation: Primary epithelial ovarian carcinoma is common in industrial countries but rare in the Orient. In fact, it is still a rare d isease in Taiwan. In this article, we report the general data of Taiwanese patients with primary epithelial ovarian carcinoma. Methods: In this retrospective study we used univariate and multivariate an alysis models: to analyze the prognosis of patients with surgically confirm ed primary epithelial ovarian carcinoma. One hundred and ninety-four patien ts from 1990 to 1996 were identified and enrolled in this study. Results: The mean follow-up time was 44.7 months with an interval between 1 5.1 months and 105.9 months. Univariate analysis showed postmenopausal stat us, advanced stage, presence of lymph node metastasis, poor differentiation , and suboptimal surgery as risk factors for disease recurrence and subsequ ent deaths. Multivariate analysis demonstrated stage as the most important factor correlated with recurrent disease (risk ratio: 7.303 and 5.409, resp ectively), followed by optimal surgery (RR: 2.447), and cellular differenti ation (RR: 1.677). Conclusions: Our data on the Taiwan population were consistent with other r eports of different races. Early detection for primary epithelial ovarian c ancer is of great importance because stage is still the most important pred ictor in disease-free survival and disease-related deaths. Application of t he most reliable and acceptable methods of screening is our goal in the nex t century after weighing benefits over cents.