Does the primary route of spread have a prognostic significance in stage III non-serous epithelial ovarian cancer?

BACKGROUND The purpose of this retrospective study was to determine the prognosis of non-serous epithelial ovarian cancer (EOC) patients with exclusively retroperitoneal lymph node (LN) metastases, and to compare the prognosis of these women to that of patients who had abdominal peritoneal involvement. METHODS A multicenter, retrospective department database review was performed to identify patients with stage III non-serous EOC at 7 gynecologic oncology centers in Turkey. Demographic, clinicopathological and survival data were collected. The patients were divided into three groups based on the initial sites of disease: 1) the retroperitoneal (RP) group included patients who had positive pelvic and /or para-aortic LNs only. 2) The intraperitoneal (IP) group included patients with > 2 cm IP dissemination outside of the pelvis. These patients all had a negative LN status, 3) The IP / RP group included patients with > 2 cm IP dissemination outside of the pelvis as well as positive LN status. Survival data were compared with regard to the groups. RESULTS We identified 179 women with stage III non-serous EOC who were treated at 7 participating centers during the study period. The median age of the patients was 53 years, and the median duration of follow-up was 39 months. There were 35 (19.6%) patients in the RP group, 72 (40.2%) in the IP group and 72 (40.2%) in the IP/RP group. The 5-year disease-free survival (DFS) rates for the RP, the IP, and IP/RP groups were 66.4%, 37.6%, and 25.5%, respectively (p = 0.002). The 5-year overall survival (OS) rate for the RP group was significantly longer when compared to those of the IP, and the IP/RP groups (74.4% vs. 54%, and 36%, respectively; p = 0.011). However, we were not able to define "RP only disease" as an independent prognostic factor for increased DFS or OS. CONCLUSIONS Primary non-serous EOC patients with node-positive-only disease seem to have better survival when compared to those with extra-pelvic peritoneal involvement.