Prevalence of lymph node metastasis and role of lymphadenectomy for apparent early-stage ovarian clear cell carcinoma

Abstract

Objectives: Determine the incidence of lymph node (LN) metastasis and impact of lymphadenectomy (LND) on the survival of patients with apparent early stage clear cell carcinoma (OCCC). Methods: Patients with apparent early stage OCCC and no history of another tumor diagnosed between 2004 and 2015 who underwent surgery were drawn from the National Cancer Database. Performance of LND and incidence of LN metastasis was assessed from pathology report. Five-year overall survival (OS) was calculated after generation of Kaplan-Meier curves and OS was compared with the log-rank test. A Cox multivariate model was constructed to control for confounders. Results: Among 4589 patients with apparent early stage clear cell ovarian carcinoma, 80.9% underwent LND. Median number of LN removed was 13. Higher rates of LND were noted in academic centers (86.2% vs 76.8%, p Conclusions: Complete staging of patients with apparent early stage OCCC with LND may be associated with better survival. Prognosis of patients with lymph node metastasis is poor.