[Expectations and defeat in the treatment of epithelial cancer of the ovary].

One hundred and thirty-nine patients were treated between 1980 and 1988 for epithelial cancer of the ovary: 35 stage I, 30 stage II, 66 stage III and 8 stage IV (according to the IFGO classification). For stage I and II patients, who underwent total abdominal hysterectomy and bilateral salpingo-oophorectomy with omentectomy followed by combination chemotherapy, the 5 year survival rate without relapse was 91%. For those classified as stage III, the 5 year survival rate was 36%. When the tumor was completely removed surgically, the 5 year survival rate was 82%, but the disease-free (without relapse) rate was only 47%. When the malignancy could not be completely excised, the 5 year survival rate was only 15%. The only chance these patients had to survive was if chemotherapy effectively controlled the residual mass (verified during an exploratory laparotomy). In our experience, the combination of cisplatin, doxorubicin and cyclophosphamide, in spite of a 78% response rate, only histologically eliminated the residual tumor in 15% of the patients.

Duke Scholars

Author Cecil Orm Borel III Anesthesiology, Neuroanesthesia