Reproductive and oncologic outcomes in women with non-epithelial ovarian cancer: Single center experience over 25 years

OBJECTIVE: This study aimed to present our single-center clinical experience regarding tumor clinicopathologic features, treatment modalities, and reproductive and oncologic outcomes in patients with non-epithelial ovarian cancer (NEOC) over 25 years. MATERIALS AND METHODS: A total of 100 patients with clinicopathological diagnosis of NEOC who were treated at our tertiary care center between 1996 and 2022 were included in this retrospective cohort analysis study. Data on demographic, clinical and obstetric characteristics of patients at the time of initial diagnosis as well as tumor clinicopathologic features, treatment modalities, and oncological and reproductive outcomes were recorded. RESULTS: NEOCs involved germ cell tumors (GCTs) in 46 (46%) patients and sex cordstromal tumors (SCSTs) in 54 (54%) patients. Thirty patients with GCTs and thirty-four patients with SCSTs possessed histological subtypes with malignant features. Most patients with GCTs (37%) and SCSTs (55.6%) had FIGO Stage 1 disease at the time of initial diagnosis. Overall, 76.6% of patients in the GCT group (n=23) underwent fertility-sparing surgery (FSS), while 76.5% of the patients in the SCST group (n=26) were treated with non-fertility-sparing surgical procedures. All patients who underwent FSS and had a recurrence in their follow-up (n=4) was stage 3 patients. Seven out of 10 patients (2 patients at stage 3 and 5 patients at stage 1) who desired pregnancy delivered between 38 and 40 gestational weeks without any congenital anomaly. The prognosis was excellent in both groups, with 5-year overall survival (OS) rates of 93.5% in GCTs and 96.3% in SCST groups. The 5-year disease-free survival was 89.1% in GCTs and 94.4% in SCSTs. FSS was not associated with worse oncologic outcomes. CONCLUSION: NEOCs usually have a good prognosis because they are detected at an early stage. FSS may be indicated for women of reproductive age with early-stage NEOCs.