Cancer Management and Research (Oct 2018)
Impact of the new FIGO 2013 classification on prognosis of stage I epithelial ovarian cancers
Abstract
Céline Montavon Sartorius,1 Uzma Mirza,1 Andreas Schötzau,2 Gillian Mackay,1 Daniel Fink,3 Neville F Hacker,4 Viola Heinzelmann-Schwarz1,2 1Department of Gynecology and Gynecological Oncology, Hospital for Women, University Hospital Basel, Basel, Switzerland; 2Ovarian Cancer Research, Department of Biomedicine, University Hospital Basel, University of Basel, Basel, Switzerland; 3Department of Gynecology, University Hospital Zurich, Zürich, Switzerland; 4Gynecological Cancer Centre, Royal Hospital for Women, School of Women’s and Children’s Health, University of New South Wales, Randwick, NSW, Australia Purpose: The stage of disease is one of the strongest prognostic factors in epithelial ovarian cancer. The International Federation of Gynecology and Obstetrics (FIGO) classification was revised in 2013; stage IC was subdivided into IC1 (intraoperative surgical spill), IC2 (capsule rupture before surgery or tumor on surface), and IC3 (positive peritoneal washing or ascites). Our aim was to compare the outcome of patients in the new FIGO stage I subgroups, as this might influence adjuvant therapy decisions.Patients and methods: Patient databases of three gynecological oncology centers were retrospectively analyzed. Patients with FIGO stage I ovarian cancers were restaged according to the revised classification, based on operative and pathological reports, and determined patient outcomes.Results: We analyzed 128 patients with ovarian cancers. In FIGO IA, we found 11.3% recurrences and 4.2% deaths. In FIGO IC, 21.8% of the patients recurred and 7.3% died. There was a trend toward a shorter time to recurrence when comparing IA to IC (P=0.076). Within all new subgroups of FIGO IC, there was no difference in time to recurrence (P=0.59). There was also no significant difference in survival when FIGO IA was compared to FIGO IC in comparison with the new individual classifications (IA to IC, IA to IC1, 2, or 3; P=0.60, P=0.15, P=0.61, P=0.66, respectively) or within the different subgroups (P=0.56). Platinum-based chemotherapy was given to the majority (82.6%, n=38/46) of the FIGO IC patients compared to 30.9% in FIGO IA (n=17/55). There was no significant difference within the new subgroups of FIGO IC (P=0.88).Conclusion: In our retrospective analysis, the new FIGO staging of IC ovarian cancers did not predict prognosis, but the use of adjuvant chemotherapy in 82.6% of the stage IC patients may have biased the outcome. Keywords: ovarian neoplasm, cancer staging, survival, recurrence