“Benefit” of Routine Ovarian Biopsy during Laparotomy for Diseases of the Female Reproductive Organs.

Abstract

Background: Ovarian cancer is the most common cause of death among patients diagnosed with reproductive organ cancers in Poland. Despite the progress and continual improvements in diagnostic techniques and methods of cancer treatment, the epidemiology and natural history of ovarian cancer remain largely unchanged. Approximately three quarters of ovarian carcinoma cases are not detected or treated until the third or fourth stage of the disease. The current routine diagnostic procedures include ultrasound examination, biochemistry marker assessments and histopathological evaluations of ovarian tissue to confirm a diagnosis. The preoperative diagnosis of ovarian cancer remains unsatisfactory, and the search for new effective methods has not provided satisfactory results.Objectives: To determine whether routine biopsy of macroscopically unchanged ovaries provides sufficient benefit.Material and methods: We conducted a clinical trial involving approximately 1,000 ovaries from which tissue samples were collected during reproductive organ surgeries, and the tissues were examined by a pathologist. Spearman’s rank correlation was used to compare the results statistically.Results: The results of the histopathological evaluation of macroscopically unchanged ovaries were normal in 99.8% of patients.Conclusion: In this context, routine biopsy of macroscopically unchanged ovaries does not provide sufficient benefit. Moreover, it may be associated with increases in surgical complications such as bleeding from the biopsy site. Therefore, biopsy of the ovaries during surgery of reproductive organs should not be performed routinely unless cancer is suspected.