Clinical features and outcomes of neck lymphatic metastasis in ovarian epithelial carcinoma

BACKGROUND: Neck lymph node metastasis (NLNM) in epithelial ovarian cancer (EOC) is rare and treated as advanced stage cancer. However, ovarian cancer with lymphatic metastasis may manifest a different clinical course from peritoneal carcinomatosis. METHODS: The authors retrospectively assessed 20 patients with EOC and pathologically diagnosed as NLNM between January 2001 and December 2010. The patients were divided into two groups according to the time of NLNM identification. Statistical methods included Kaplan-Meier, log-rank, and Cox regression analysis. RESULTS: Eleven patients were diagnosed with NLNM at the same time of surgical exploration of EOC (Group A) and nine patients at cancer recurrence 43.3 months after initial surgery (Group B). In Group A, patients with tumors confined to the pelvic cavity had no recurrence or had isolated lymph node recurrence (ILNR), and survived longer than patients with abdominal tumor spreading (P = 0.0007). In Group B, 2 patients showed ILNR. The median survival time after NLNM was 42 months in Group A and 6 months in Group B (P = 0.01). Cox model demonstrated that non-serous histology, brain metastasis, and NLNM identified at cancer recurrence were major predictors for poor overall survival (Hazard ratio [HR] = 18.67, 6.93, and 4.52; P = 0.01, 0.02, and 0.04, respectively). CONCLUSIONS: A subgroup of EOC patients with NLNM who presented limited pelvic cancer had much better overall survival than patients who had cancer spreading beyond the pelvic cavity or were diagnosed with NLNM at cancer recurrence.