Prognostic evaluation of tumour type and other histopathological characteristics in advanced epithelial ovarian cancer, treated with surgery and paclitaxel/carboplatin chemotherapy: Cell type is the most useful prognostic factor

Abstract

AimOvarian carcinomas have been classified into types I and II according to the hypothesised mode of carcinogenesis and molecular characteristics. The prognostic significance of this classification has not been studied. Patients and methodsFive hundred and sixty-eight patients with histologically confirmed, ovarian, fallopian tube or peritoneal carcinomas, international federation of gynecology and obstetrics (FIGO) stages IIC–IV, treated with paclitaxel/platinum following cytoreductive surgery, were included in this analysis. Type I included low-grade serous, mucinous, endometrioid and clear-cell and type II high-grade serous, unspecified adenocarcinomas and undifferentiated carcinomas. ResultsMedian overall survival (OS) was 49months for type I versus 45 for type II (p=0.576). In contrast to type II, there was considerable prognostic heterogeneity among the subtypes included in type I. Cox regression analysis showed that cell-type classification: low-grade serous, mucinous, endometrioid, clear-cell, type II (high-grade serous, unspecified adenocarcinomas, undifferentiated carcinoma) was an independent predictor of survival (respective median OS 121 versus 15 versus 64 versus 29 versus 45months, p=0.003). On the contrary, histopathological subtype or tumour type (I versus II) did not offer additional prognostic information. ConclusionThe proposed model of ovarian tumourigenesis does not reflect tumour behaviour in advanced disease. Tumour-cell type is the most relevant histopathological prognostic factor in advanced ovarian cancer treated with platinum/paclitaxel.