Surgical Stage I high-grade ovarian cancer: is adjuvant chemotherapy warranted?

Objective: To review the results of patients with high-grade Stage I ovarian cancer managed without adjuvant treatment. Materials and Methods: A retrospective chart review identified patients with newly diagnosed Stage I high-grade ovarian cancer, who underwent comprehensive surgical staging. Results: Thirty-three patients with FIGO surgical Stage I high-grade ovarian cancer were identified. After a median follow-up of 40 months, nine patients (27%) recurred. The median time to recurrence was 19 months. Of the nine patients with recurrences, four (44%) are alive with disease, three (33%) patients have no evidence of disease, and two have died of disease (22%). The two- and five-year overall survival is 100% and 90%, respectively. Conclusions: It would appear the recurrence rates of Stage I high risk epithelial ovarian cancer completely staged, without adjuvant treatment are comparable to those of treatment arms reported in the literature. A proportion of these patients can be salvaged at recurrence, yielding a high overall survival.

Ovarian cancer; Surgical staging; Adjuvant chemotherapy; High grade; Early stage.

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