The impact of clinicopathologic and surgical factors on relapse and pregnancy in young patients (≤40 years old) with borderline ovarian tumors

BACKGROUND: Fertility sparing surgery has been extensively performed among patients with borderline ovarian tumors due to their age and favorable prognosis. Nevertheless, the prognosis and obstetric outcomes in these patients remain uncertain. Thus, the current study was carried out to evaluate the oncological safety and fertility benefits of different fertility sparing surgery subtypes and various clinicopathological parameters. METHODS: Young borderline ovarian tumor patients with an age of ≤40 years, who were admitted and treated in Zhejiang Cancer Hospital from January 1996 to December 2016, were enrolled in this study and reviewed retrospectively. The prognostic and obstetric effects of clinicopathological and surgical variables were evaluated using univariate/multivariate analyses and survival curves. RESULTS: A total of 92 eligible patients were enrolled in the analysis. Among these patients, 22 (24%) patients showed recurrence after a median follow-up of 46.5 months. Within the fertility sparing surgery group, patients at advanced stage (≥stage II), of serous type, with micropapillary and bilateral tumors were associated with a higher recurrence rate and a shorter recurrence interval. In terms of different modalities of fertility sparing surgery, adnexectomy was remarkably favored over cystectomy-including (P = 0.012); unilateral salpingo-oophorectomy had better prognosis than cystectomy and bilateral cystectomy was favored over unilateral salpingo-oophorectomy+contralateral cystectomy. Univariate Cox regression analysis indicated that the International Federation of Gynecology and Obstetrics stage (≥Stage II), the presence of bilateral and micropapillary lesions, and the application of cystectomy-including surgery were correlated with poorer disease-free survival, while the mucinous type of borderline ovarian tumors was related to improved disease-free survival. In this study, a total of 22 patients attempted to conceive and 15 (68%) of these patients achieved successful pregnancy. CONCLUSIONS: Unilateral salpingo-oophorectomy and bilateral cystectomy should be recommended as the preferred choice of treatment for young patients with unilateral and bilateral borderline ovarian tumor who desire to preserve fertility. In addition, borderline ovarian tumor patients at advanced stage (≥stage II), of serous type, with micropapillary and bilateral tumors should pay more attention to the risk of recurrence. Therefore, these patients should choose fertility sparing surgery carefully and attempt to achieve pregnancy as soon as possible.