Fertility-Sparing surgery for young women with ovarian endometrioid carcinoma: a multicenteric comparative study using inverse probability of treatment weighting

INTRODUCTION: The aim of this study was to evaluate the oncologic outcome of women with stage I ovarian endometrioid carcinoma (EC) who underwent fertility-sparing surgery (FSS). MATERIALS AND NETHODS: Between 1986 and 2017, a total of 3227 patients with epithelial ovarian carcinoma were retrospectively evaluated based on a central pathological review and search of the medical records from multiple institutions. We identified 24 and 54 patients with stage I EC who underwent FSS and conventional radical surgery (CRS), respectively. Inverse probability of treatment weighting (IPTW)–adjusted Kaplan-Meier and Cox regression analyses were employed to compare OS between the two groups. RESULTS: With follow-up of a total of 78 patients, 9 patients (11.5%) developed recurrence. In addition, 5 patients (6.4%) died of the disease. Recurrence was noted in 3 (10.7%) patients in the FSS group and 6 (11.1%) patients in the CRS group. Death was noted in 2 (8.3%) patients in the FSS group and 3 (5.6%) patients in the CRS group. In the original cohort, there was no significant difference in overall survival (OS) or recurrence-free survival (RFS) between the FSS and RS groups {Log-rank: OS (P = 0.630), RFS (P = 0.757)}. In the IPTW-adjusted cohort, the 5-year OS rates were 96.6 and 92.4% in patients with FSS and CRS, respectively (P = 0.319). Furthermore, the 5-year RFS rate was 88.6% for the FSS group and 88.1% for the CRS group (Log-rank: P = 0.556). CONCLUSIONS: Young women with stage I EC undergoing FSS showed a relatively satisfactory prognosis, equal to those receiving CRC.