Short-term Outcomes and Pregnancy Rate After Laparoscopic Fertility-Sparing Surgery for Borderline Ovarian Tumors

OBJECTIVE We investigated the short-term outcomes and pregnancy rate after a laparoscopic approach to fertility preservation in patients with borderline ovarian tumors (BOTs). METHODS Clinic-pathologic variants of patients with BOTs who underwent conservative surgery at the Tianjin Central Hospital of Obstetrics and Gynecology between January 2009 and July 2015 were retrospectively analyzed. RESULTS Among 211 patients with BOTs, 74 (35.1%) received conservative surgery (44 cases using a laparoscopic approach and 30 cases using a laparotomy approach). The mean age of the laparotomy group was significantly younger than that of the laparoscopic group (P = 0.024). The maximal longitude of the tumor in the laparotomy group was significantly longer than that in the laparoscopic group (P < 0.001). The number of incomplete surgery cases in the laparoscopic group was significantly greater than that in the laparotomy group (P < 0.001). The 2 groups showed no significant differences in gravidity and parity before surgery, abnormality of serum tumor makers, tumor lateralities, ascites, histology, duration of follow-up, pregnancy rate after surgery, or postoperative recurrence. Total recurrent rate was 6.7% (5/74). Two cases in laparotomy group and 3 cases in laparoscopic group relapsed respectively. There was no significant difference of recurrent rate between the 2 groups. The total pregnant rate was 33.8% (25/74). Nine patients (30%) in the laparotomy group and 16 patients (36.4%) in the laparoscopic group became pregnant during follow-up respectively. There were no significant differences in the postoperative durations of pregnancy, pregnancy type, age at pregnancy, tumor lateralities, ascites, or type of pathology between 2 groups. The pregnancy rate of incomplete surgery cases in laparoscopic group was significantly higher than that of laparotomy group (P = 0.011). No recurrence occurred among the pregnant cases. CONCLUSIONS A comprehensive laparoscopic surgery was not performed in incomplete surgery patients undergoing complete exploration. Good short-term outcomes and pregnancy were observed in patients receiving conservative laparoscopic surgery for BOTs, especially in patients receiving incomplete conservative laparoscopic surgery.