Characterization and Management of Borderline Ovarian Tumors – Results of a Retrospective, Single-center Study of Patients Treated at the Department of Gynecology and Obstetrics of the University Medicine Greifswald

Abstract

Borderline ovarian tumors (BOT) are malignant epithelial ovarian tumors with a very low incidence, therefore lacking sufficient clinical experience in diagnostics and treatment. This study characterized the histology, clinical features, diagnostics and therapy of BOT including patients treated at the Department of Gynecology and Obstetrics of the University Medicine Greifswald. In this retrospective, single-center study, patients with BOT treated between 1990 and 2010 were analyzed according to their histological and clinical reports. A total of 54 patients were enrolled. The median age was 54.6 (range=23-83) years. Distribution of histological subtypes was: serous in 31 patients (57.4 %) and mucinous in 23 patients (42.6%). All patients underwent surgery. Eight patients (14.8%) were treated according to actual therapy recommendations during the initial surgery. Eight patients (14.8%) received adjuvant chemotherapy contrary to treatment recommendations. In the case of 36 patients (66.7%), a frozen section was taken intraoperatively, which matched the definitive histological result in 88.9%. During average follow-up of 70.3 months (range=0-231 months), two patients (3.7%) developed tumor recurrence after 9 and 29 months, respectively, two patients (3.7%) died of causes other than BOT. Our study critically demonstrated that until a few years ago, BOTs were not usually treated according to international therapy recommendations. Nevertheless, the rate of tumor recurrence was very low.