Clinical Study of Borderline Ovarian Malignancy

Lee, Sang Hee; Bae, Tae Wook; Lee, No Jun; Kim, Chan Joo; Park, Tae Chul; Lee, Joon Mo; Namkoong, Sung Eun

Abstract

OBJECTIVES
The purpose of this study is to investigate the clinicopathologic characteristics and the risk factors affecting the recurrence in patients with borderline ovarian malignancy.
METHODS
From January 1996 to January 2001, 37 patients with borderline tumors of the ovaries were retrospectively investigated in the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Catholic University, Kangnam and Uijongbu St. Mary's Hospital. Several clinicopathologic factors including DNA ploicly was analyzed for the prognosis and recurrence. Analysis for the kinds of treatment and recurrence were conducted to test the prognostic significance of several clinicopathologic factors including DNA analysis.
RESULTS
Histologically, 27 borderline tumors were serous, 9 were mucinous and 1 was mixed epithelial type. The FIGO stage I was 91.8% (34/37) and stageII was 8.2% (3/37). Mean value of CA125 in mucinous borderline malignancy was significantly higher (162.4 IU/mL) than serous types (52.2 IU/mL) (p<0.05). The patients with elevated CA 125 levels (>35 IU/mL) were 56.3% (9/16) in serous type and 75% (6/8) in mucinous tumors. Ten of 13 cases with DNA flow cytometry showed aneuploidy (76.9%). When considering pathologic types between diploid and aneuploid groups, there were no statistically significant differences. However, the patients with old age (>40) were more likely to be aneuploid (p<0.05). Mean duration of follow-up investigation was 26 months after primary operation. In this period, only one patient with serous borderline tumor stage Ia had recurrence on the contra-lateral ovary at 13-month.
CONCLUSION
Data from this study showed that the majority of borderline tumors have good prognosis. And young patients who have not completed childbearing can be safely treated with unilateral salpingo- oophorectomy and omentectomy in stage I diploid tumor. In ovarian bordeline tumors, further studies on DNA ploidy would be needed.