Prognosis of ovarian cancer developing in the residual ovary

Elective oophorectomy at the time of hysterectomy for benign disease in women during their fifth decade is an important issue for both gynecologist and patient. It has been suggested that cancer developing in the residual ovary has a worse prognosis than the national average (L. McGowan, Obstet. Gynecol. 69, 386, 1987). In an effort to corroborate such finding, 36 women with epithelial ovarian cancer developing in the residual ovary after prior hysterectomy were compared to a group of 121 patients with epithelial ovarian cancer and no previous surgery. Analysis was made of age, stage at diagnosis, feasibility of cytoreductive surgery, and survival in both groups. Only age distribution was found to be significantly different between the two groups of patients ( P < 0.001). Neither FIGO staging or quality of cytoreductive surgery showed a statistically significant difference between both groups. At 3 years, 41% of the subjects with cancer in the residual ovary were alive, compared to 42% in the group without previous hysterectomy. The corresponding figures for 5-year survival are 34 and 27%, respectively ( P = 0.939). On the basis of our findings we conclude that the overall prognosis for patients with ovarian cancer developing in the residual ovary does not appear to be any worse than that reported for ovarian cancer in general.