Management of Malignant Ovarian Tumors in Young Women

To evaluate the management of malignant ovarian tumors in young women who wish to maintain fertility, we retrospectively reviewed ovarian malignancies in 21 young women who were both nulliparous and under 40 years of age. With stage 1a disease, all 9 patients were treated with conservative surgical therapies, and all of them are still alive, irrespective of histological type. With stage 1c disease, 5 (83%) of 6 patients were treated with conservative surgical therapies. Among them, 2 patients with epithelial tumors, who were treated with conservative surgical therapies and potent cis-diamminedichloroplatinum (CDDP)-based combined chemotherapies, are still alive. Furthermore, one of them had a successful pregnancy. On the other hand, 3 out of 4 patients with nonepithelial tumors were treated with conservative surgical therapies. However, 2 (67%) out of 3 died; both of them were treated with non-CDDP-based chemotherapy. In 6 patients with disease beyond stage 2, 4 (67%) were treated with radical surgical therapies, but 2 (33%) were treated with conservative surgery and CDDP-based combined chemotherapy, one of which was followed by a successful pregnancy in spite of nonepithelial tumor. As above, we could obtain some successful pregnancies in cases beyond stage 1c after conservative surgery by adding definite CDDP-based combined chemotherapy. However, we must carefully select the patients with nonepithelial tumors for conservative therapy by adding definite CDDP-based combined chemotherapy and inform them of the risks of therapy.