Ovarian Cancer during Pregnancy: Clinical and Pregnancy Outcome

The aim of this study is to evaluate the clinical feature and pregnancy outcome in patients with ovarian cancer diagnosed during pregnancy. We retrospectively analyzed the medical records of 27 patients diagnosed with ovarian cancer during pregnancy at Cheil General Hospital & Women's Healthcare Center from January 1996 to December 2006. Mean age of the patients was 29.1 yr (range 23-40), and a mean follow-up period was 57 months (range 7-112 months). Of 27 patients, 15 (55.5%) had borderline malignancies, 7 (25.9%) had epithelial malignancies and 5 (18.6%) had germ cell tumors. A total of 26 patients received a conservative surgery preserving pregnancy. The mean time for surgical intervention during pregnancy was 20 weeks of gestational age. Of the 27 patients, 26 had full term delivery of a healthy baby without any congenital malformation. Only one patient with epithelial ovarian cancer had a relapse at 19 months after the first conservative operation with adjuvant chemotherapy. There were few data for managing patients with ovarian cancer diagnosed during pregnancy. This study results could help establish a guideline for management of ovarian malignancy complicating pregnancy.