Conservative surgery for ovarian cancer and effect on fertility

Objective: A survey that compared two alternatives (conservative and radical surgery) is presented on ovarian cancer treatment evaluating its effect on progression-free survival and fertility, in a 10-year time period, in Mexican women. Methods: 72 women between 11 and 58 years old with unilateral ovarian cancer in different stages were studied. Several methods were analyzed: (1) progression-free survival, using Mantel and Haenzsel test to compare in terms of life curves and the Kaplan-Meier method. The exposure variable was surgery type, using the Mantel-Cox test to evaluate the difference in life curves by clinical stages and by surgery type; (2) fertility was evaluated in women who received conservative surgery, considering the cumulative pregnancy rate in women successfully pregnant after surgical and/or adjuvant treatment. Results: There were no differences in survival curves when evaluating progression-free survival, in either group (Z = 1.09 and Pr > (z) = 0.27). During the study period, we found that 87.5% of patients were alive with no evidence of disease. There were no differences in survival curves when evaluating progression-free survival according to surgery type and clinical stage (chi(2) = 0.66, P = 0.88). Restart of menstruation in patients with conservative surgery occurred before 6 months in 89% of the sample, 22 women with possible parity had a 59.1% cumulative pregnancy rate. Conclusions: The outcomes from this survey carried out in Mexico show that conservative treatment of ovarian cancer in early clinical stages is an efficient alternative to preserve reproductive function in young women, and does not show differences in progression-free survival compared to radical surgery. (C) 1997 International Federation of Gynecology and Obstetrics.