Management of borderline ovarian tumors: A retrospective study in Northern Greece

Abstract

Introduction: Borderline ovarian tumors (BOTs) are tumors of low malignant potential commonly presented in women of reproductive age. Their incidence has been increasing over the years and issues regarding fertility preservation are very crucial. Material and methods: This was a retrospective cohort study including all cases of BOTs diagnosed and surgically treated, during a 12-year period (2010 – 2022) at the Third Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, School of Medicine, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Greece. Student’s t-test and Mann-Whitney tests were used to compare age, parity, serum Ca-125 and maximum dimensions of the tumors between the patients treated radically and those treated conservatively. The Fisher’s exact test was used to compare categorical variables between the groups with radical versus conservative surgery. Results: In total, 34 cases were managed during the study period with a median follow-up of 114.5 months. The mean age was 50 years, the median parity was 2, the median of Ca-125 was 20.6 U/ml and the median of the maximum dimensions of the tumors was 10 cm. Laparotomy was performed in 82.4% of the cases. In 29.4% of cases, the BOT was bilateral. There was no case with residual disease, the majority were serous tumors at stage I. The mean age (53.9 vs 32.2, p-value<0.001), the median parity (2 vs 1, p-value=0.009) and the median serum Ca-125 (21.1 vs 13, p-value=0.046) were significantly higher in women who underwent radical surgery than those with conservative surgery. The recurrence rate was 2.9%. Conclusion: A favorable long-term prognosis was observed in women diagnosed with BOTs, without any tumor-related deaths. Conservative surgery for fertility preservation may appear as beneficial.