Serous Borderline Ovarian Tumors Research Articles

Synergistic AHR Binding Pathway with EMT Effects on Serous Ovarian Tumors Recognized by Multidisciplinary Integrated Analysis.

Epithelial ovarian cancers (EOCs) are fatal and obstinate among gynecological malignancies in advanced stage or relapsed status, with serous carcinomas accounting for the vast majority. Unlike EOCs, borderline ovarian tumors (BOTs), including serous BOTs, maintain a semimalignant appearance. Using gene ontology (GO)-based integrative analysis, we analyzed gene set databases of serous BOTs and serous ovarian carcinomas for dysregulated GO terms and pathways and identified multiple differentially expressed genes (DEGs) in various aspects. The SRC (SRC proto-oncogene, non-receptor tyrosine kinase) gene and dysfunctional aryl hydrocarbon receptor (AHR) binding pathway consistently influenced progression-free survival and overall survival, and immunohistochemical staining revealed elevated expression of related biomarkers (SRC, ARNT, and TBP) in serous BOT and ovarian carcinoma samples. Epithelial–mesenchymal transition (EMT) is important during tumorigenesis, and we confirmed the SNAI2 (Snail family transcriptional repressor 2, SLUG) gene showing significantly high performance by immunohistochemistry. During serous ovarian tumor formation, activated AHR in the cytoplasm could cooperate with SRC, enter cell nuclei, bind to AHR nuclear translocator (ARNT) together with TATA-Box Binding Protein (TBP), and act on DNA to initiate AHR-responsive genes to cause tumor or cancer initiation. Additionally, SNAI2 in the tumor microenvironment can facilitate EMT accompanied by tumorigenesis. Although it has not been possible to classify serous BOTs and serous ovarian carcinomas as the same EOC subtype, the key determinants of relevant DEGs (SRC, ARNT, TBP, and SNAI2) found here had a crucial role in the pathogenetic mechanism of both tumor types, implying gradual evolutionary tendencies from serous BOTs to ovarian carcinomas. In the future, targeted therapy could focus on these revealed targets together with precise detection to improve therapeutic effects and patient survival rates.

Serous borderline ovarian tumours: an extensive review on MR imaging features.

Serous borderline ovarian tumours (SBOTs) are an intermediate group of neoplasms, which have features between benign and malignant ovarian tumours and for which, fertility-sparing surgery can be offered. MRI in imaging of SBOTs is, therefore, crucial in raising the possibility of the diagnosis, in order to present the patient with the most appropriate treatment options. There are characteristic MRI features that SBOTs demonstrate. In addition, recent advanced techniques, and further classification into subtypes within the borderline group have been developed. The aim of this article is to review the MRI features of SBOT and provide the reporter with an awareness of the imaging tips and tricks in the differential diagnosis of SBOT.

Abstract 2137: Differential gene expression identifies a transcriptional regulatory network involving ESR1and PITX1 in invasive epithelial ovarian cancer

Abstract The heterogeneous subtypes and stages of epithelial ovarian cancer (EOC) differ in invasive processes, but the molecular factors that drive aggressive behavior remain nebulous. In this study, we analyzed two types of EOC at opposite ends of the invasiveness spectrum, high-grade serous ovarian cancers (HGSOCs) and serous borderline tumors (SBTs). We identified differentially expressed genes to guide follow on studies of regulatory networks. Initially, in a discovery sample set, we generated transcriptome sequences to identify 11 differentially expressed genes in SBTs and HGSOCs, and a nonoverlapping set of 17 differentially expressed genes stage II and stage III HGSOCs. We validated the classification performance of these gene expression signatures on a validation set of SBT and HGSOC with classification rates of 94 and 98% using the 11-gene and 17-gene sets, respectively. Transcription factor binding sites enriched in the differentially expressed gene promoter regions were examined by Chip-seq analysis in ovarian cancer and other cell lines. We identified a suite of transcription factors implicated in the differential regulation associated with invasiveness, including ERα, RARA, PITX1, FOXA1/FOXF1, and BHLHE41/E40. These data implicate estrogen responsive gene regulatory networks in ovarian cancers and suggest that dynamic regulatory interactions determine malignant EOC outcomes. Citation Format: Yichao Li, Sushil Kumar Jaiswal, Rupleen Kaur, Dana Alsaadi, Xiaoyu Liang, Frank Drews, Julie A. DeLoia, Thomas Krivak, Hanna M. Petrykowska, Valer Gotea, Lonnie Welch, Elnitski Laura. Differential gene expression identifies a transcriptional regulatory network involving ESR1and PITX1 in invasive epithelial ovarian cancer [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the American Association for Cancer Research Annual Meeting 2021; 2021 Apr 10-15 and May 17-21. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2021;81(13_Suppl):Abstract nr 2137.

STING pathway expression in low-grade serous carcinoma of the ovary: an unexpected therapeutic opportunity?

Ovarian carcinoma histotypes are distinct diseases with variable clinical outcomes and response to treatment. There is a need for new subtype‐specific treatment modalities, especially for women with widespread and chemo‐resistant disease. Stimulator of interferon genes (STING) is a part of the cGAS–STING pathway that mediates innate immune defence against infectious DNA‐containing pathogens and also detects tumour‐derived DNA and generates intrinsic antitumour immunity. The STING signalling pathway is suppressed by several mechanisms in a variety of malignant diseases and, in some cancers that may be a requirement for cellular transformation. The aim of this study was to use immunohistochemistry to evaluate STING protein expression across normal tissue, paratubal and ovarian cysts, and ovarian tumour histotypes including ovarian carcinomas. Herein, we show that the fallopian tube ciliated cells express STING protein, whereas the secretory cells are negative. STING expression differs among ovarian cancer histotypes; low‐grade serous ovarian carcinomas and serous borderline tumours have uniform high STING expression, while high‐grade serous and endometrioid carcinomas have heterogeneous expression, and clear cell and mucinous carcinomas show low expression. As low‐grade serous carcinomas are known to be genomically stable and typically lack a prominent host immune response, the consistently high STING expression is unexpected. High STING expression may reflect pathway activation or histogenesis and the mechanisms may be different in different ovarian carcinoma histotypes. Further studies are needed to determine whether the STING signalling pathway is active and whether these tumours would be candidates for therapeutic interventions that trigger innate immunity activation.

Serous borderline ovarian tumors: modern possibilities of ultrasound diagnostics in monitoring the course of the disease after organ-preserving operations

Relevance. Borderline ovarian tumors (BOT) occur mainly in women of reproductive age and account for 20% of all neoplasms of the female genital organs. Currently, there is an increase in the incidence of ВОТ. One of the reasons for the increase in morbidity is the improvement of knowledge and experience in relation to the morphological diagnosis of tumors of low malignancy potential. Nevertheless, the results of a preliminary instrumental assessment of the nature of the disease and the final diagnosis formed by histological examination are not always satisfactory, since borderline tumors are a thin layer that occupies an intermediate position between benign and malignant tumors. And, in spite of the fact that ВОТ is an independent nosological form in the histological classification, nevertheless, they have signs of both benign and malignant neoplasms. In this regard, the complexity of both instrumental and morphological diagnostics of ВOT becomes understandable, and, therefore, difficulties arise in determining the tactics of treatment, choosing the optimal operation, and the need for drug therapy. All these issues are directly related to the patients quality of life, and, most importantly, to survival. Because an incorrectly established diagnosis entails incorrect treatment and unsatisfactory results. Thus, the study of the peculiarities of ВOT diagnostics is extremely important. The ultrasound computed tomography method is simple, relatively cheap and affordable. Considering that almost all patients with ovarian neoplasms undergo this type of examination, it is extremely important and interesting to assess the role of the ultrasound method in the diagnosis of ВОТ. Moreover, at present more and more gynecological oncologists are resorting to organ-preserving surgical interventions for ВOТ. Therefore, it is especially important to study the possibility of ultrasound diagnostics in monitoring the course of the disease after breast-conserving operations, identifying recurrences of the disease in the ovary, differentiating recurrence and cystic formations of the ovaries.
 Aim. To determine the effectiveness of computer-assisted ultrasound diagnostics in monitoring the course of BOT after breast-conserving operations.
 Materials and methods. At Blokhin National Medical Research Center of Oncology carried out a retrospective and prospective analysis of 405 patients with serous BOT for the period 19702013. The age of the patients varied in a wide range, the minimum was 15, the maximum was 78 years, the median corresponded to 38 years. Before the start of treatment, the patients underwent an ultrasound examination (ultrasound) of the abdominal organs, the pelvic organs and the retroperitoneal space. The studies were carried out on expert ultrasonic systems Siemens ACUSON S2000, Hitachi ARIETTA V70 and Philips EPIQ 5.
 Results. We studied the capabilities of the ultrasound method for diagnosing serous BOT based on the analysis of morpho-ultrasound comparisons in patients after conservative and ultra-conservative operations.
 Conclusion. It has been established that ultrasound diagnostics is of decisive importance both in the initial diagnosis and in the dynamic observation of patients with conservative and ultra-conservative surgery for serous BOT. Echography makes it possible to diagnose a tumor in the ovary in 83.3% of cases and to reject the diagnosis in 86.7% of cases.

Dysregulated Immunological Functionome and Dysfunctional Metabolic Pathway Recognized for the Pathogenesis of Borderline Ovarian Tumors by Integrative Polygenic Analytics.

The pathogenesis and molecular mechanisms of ovarian low malignant potential (LMP) tumors or borderline ovarian tumors (BOTs) have not been fully elucidated to date. Surgery remains the cornerstone of treatment for this disease, and diagnosis is mainly made by histopathology to date. However, there is no integrated analysis investigating the tumorigenesis of BOTs with open experimental data. Therefore, we first utilized a functionome-based speculative model from the aggregated obtainable datasets to explore the expression profiling data among all BOTs and two major subtypes of BOTs, serous BOTs (SBOTs) and mucinous BOTs (MBOTs), by analyzing the functional regularity patterns and clustering the separate gene sets. We next prospected and assembled the association between these targeted biomolecular functions and their related genes. Our research found that BOTs can be accurately recognized by gene expression profiles by means of integrative polygenic analytics among all BOTs, SBOTs, and MBOTs; the results exhibited the top 41 common dysregulated biomolecular functions, which were sorted into four major categories: immune and inflammatory response-related functions, cell membrane- and transporter-related functions, cell cycle- and signaling-related functions, and cell metabolism-related functions, which were the key elements involved in its pathogenesis. In contrast to previous research, we identified 19 representative genes from the above classified categories (IL6, CCR2 for immune and inflammatory response-related functions; IFNG, ATP1B1, GAS6, and PSEN1 for cell membrane- and transporter-related functions; CTNNB1, GATA3, and IL1B for cell cycle- and signaling-related functions; and AKT1, SIRT1, IL4, PDGFB, MAPK3, SRC, TWIST1, TGFB1, ADIPOQ, and PPARGC1A for cell metabolism-related functions) that were relevant in the cause and development of BOTs. We also noticed that a dysfunctional pathway of galactose catabolism had taken place among all BOTs, SBOTs, and MBOTs from the analyzed gene set databases of canonical pathways. With the help of immunostaining, we verified significantly higher performance of interleukin 6 (IL6) and galactose-1-phosphate uridylyltransferase (GALT) among BOTs than the controls. In conclusion, a bioinformatic platform of gene-set integrative molecular functionomes and biophysiological pathways was constructed in this study to interpret the complicated pathogenic pathways of BOTs, and these important findings demonstrated the dysregulated immunological functionome and dysfunctional metabolic pathway as potential roles during the tumorigenesis of BOTs and may be helpful for the diagnosis and therapy of BOTs in the future.

Fertility-sparing treatment in advanced-stage serous borderline ovarian tumors. An analysis from the MITO14 study database

ObjectivesTo evaluate oncological and reproductive outcomes of women undergoing fertility-sparing surgery (FSS) for stage II–III serous borderline ovarian tumors (BOTs). MethodsA multi-institutional retrospective study was conducted within the MITO Group. ResultsA total of 91 patients were recruited. The median follow-up time from primary cytoreduction was 127 months (IQR range 91–179). Forty-nine patients (53.8%) experienced at least one recurrence (median time to first relapse 22 months, IQR range 9.5–57). At univariable analysis, significant predictors of relapse were: size of largest extra-ovarian lesion, peritoneal cancer index, completeness of cytoreduction, type of implants. After multivariable analysis, the size of extra-ovarian lesions and the presence of invasive implants resulted as the only independent predictors of recurrence. Median disease-free survival (DFS) was 96 months (95% CI, 24.6–167.3), while median disease-specific survival (DSS) was not reached. Twenty-nine patients (31.8%) attempted to conceive: 20 (68.9%) achieved at least one pregnancy and 18 (62%) gave birth to a healthy child. At the end of the observation period, 88 patients (96.7%) showed no evidence of disease, 2 (2.2%) were alive with disease, and 1 patient (1.1%) died from BOT. ConclusionsDespite the recurrence high rate, FSS provides good chances of reproductive success with no impact on DSS. The presence of invasive peritoneal implants affects the DFS but not DSS nor reproductive outcome. The risk of recurrence would not seem to be related to the ovarian preservation per se, but to the natural history of the initial peritoneal spread.

90. Serous borderline paraovarian tumor: a rare presentation in an adolescent girl

<h3>Background</h3> Borderline serous ovarian tumors represent less than 1% of all ovarian tumors in children and adolescents. Even more rare are serous borderline paratubal tumors. There are a few case reports of this rare tumor in the adult literature, but to our knowledge we report the youngest patient with a serous borderline paratubal tumor. <h3>Case</h3> A 17 year-old girl presented with progressive weight gain and lower abdominal distension over a three month period. She also reported intermittent crampy suprapubic abdominal pain as well as irregular menses and increasing fatigue. Workup revealed a 19 × 15 × 10 cm mass adjacent to the left ovary. Laboratory evaluation was remarkable only for a mild elevation in LDH (641). She underwent laparoscopic, ovarian sparing resection of a paratubal cyst. Final pathology was consisted with a serous borderline tumor without invasion or microinvasion. Cytology from the cyst fluid also showed "atypical cells with serous morphology." She had an uneventful post operative course, her LDH levels normalized, and she is currently being followed with serial ultrasounds and LDH levels. <h3>Comments</h3> Serous borderline paratubal tumors are extremely rare tumors, usually occurring in young women. There are only scant case reports in the adult literature and this is the first reported case in an adolescent to our knowledge. These tumors generally present as early stage and have good clinical outcomes. Continued reporting is essential to ensure a better understanding of these tumors.

Are CT and MRI useful tools to distinguish between micropapillary type and typical type of ovarian serous borderline tumors?

To investigate the computed tomography (CT) and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) characteristics of ovarian serous borderline tumors (SBTs), and evaluate whether CT and MRI can be used to distinguish micropapillary from typical subtypes. We retrospectively reviewed the clinical features and CT and MR imaging findings of 47 patients with SBTs encountered at our institute from September 2013 to December 2019. 30 patients with 58 histologically proven typical SBT and 17 patients with 26 micropapillary SBT were reviewed. Preoperative CT and MR images were evaluated, by two observers in consensus for the laterality, maximum diameter (MD), morphology patterns, internal architecture, attenuation or signal intensity, ADC value, enhancement patterns of solid portions (SP), and extra-ovarian imaging features. The median age were similar between typical SBT and SBT-MP (32.5years, 36years, respectively, P>0.05). Morphology patterns between two subtypes were significantly different on CT and MR images (P < 0.001). Irregular solid tumor (21/37, 56.76%) was the major morphology pattern of typical SBT tumor, while unilocular cyst with mural nodules (14/20, 70%) was the major morphology pattern of SBT-MP on CT images. Similarly, papillary architecture with internal branching (PA&IB) (17/21, 80.95%) was the major morphology pattern of typical SBT tumor, while unilocular cyst with mural nodules (4/6, 66.67%) was the major pattern of SBT-MP on MR images. PA&IB all showed slightly hyperintense papillary architecture with hypointense internal branching on T2-weighted MRI. More calcifications were found in typical SBT (24/37, 64.86%) than SBT-MP mass lesion (6/20, 30%) (P < 0.05). Hemorrhage was less frequently visible in (20/37, 54.05%) typical SBT lessons than SBT-MP mass lesion (18/20, 90%) (P < 0.05). The ovarian preservation is more seen in typical SBT (38/58, 65.52%) than SBT-MP (12/28, 42.86%) in our series (P < 0.05). Mean ADC value of solid portions (papillary architecture and mural nodules) was 1.68 (range from 1.44 to 1.85) × 10-3mm2/s for typical SBT and 1.62 (range from 1.45 to 1.7) × 10-3mm2/s for that of SBT-MP. The solid components of the two SBT subtypes showed wash-in appearance enhancements after contrast injection both in CT and MR images except 2 of SBT-MP with no enhancement as complete focal hemorrhage on MR images. Morphology and internal architecture are two major imaging features that can help to distinguish between SBT-MP and typical SBT.

Predicting Lymph Node Involvement in Borderline Ovarian Tumors with a Quantitative Model and Nomogram: A Retrospective Cohort Study.

PurposeThis study aimed to establish a predictive model for lymph node involvement (LNI) in patients with borderline ovarian tumor (BOT) using clinicopathological factors.Patients and MethodsWe collected clinical data from consecutive patients who underwent lymphadenectomy for BOT between 2001 and 2018 and analyzed their clinicopathological features. Multivariate logistic regression was used to identify all independent risk factors associated with LNI; these were then incorporated into the prediction model.ResultsIn total, we included 248 patients with BOT who were undergoing lymphadenectomy. These were divided into a training cohort (n=174) and a validation cohort (n=74). When considering histopathological data, 16 and 5 patients were identified to have LNI in the training and validation cohorts, respectively. Overall, 13.5% (21/156) patients with serous BOT had LNI while 0% (0/92) patients with non-serous BOT had LNI. We identified several predictors of LNI: the largest tumor being ≥ 12.2cm in diameter, the presence of lesions on the ovarian surface, and the presence of pelvic or abdominal lesions. We created a prediction model and nomogram that incorporated these three risk factors for serous BOT. The model achieved good discriminatory abilities of 0.951 and 0.848 when predicting LNI in the training and validation cohorts, respectively. The LNI-predicting nomogram had an area under curve (AUC) of 0.951 and generated well-fitted calibration curves.ConclusionNon-serous BOT may not require lymphadenectomy as part of surgical staging. The individual risk of LNI in patients with serous BOT can be accurately estimated using our prediction model and nomogram. The use of LNI criteria provides a practical way to support the clinician in making an optimal decision relating to surgical scope for patients with BOT.

Ovarian borderline tumor presenting as ovarian torsion in a 17-year-old patient: a case report

BackgroundOvarian torsion is a gynecological surgical emergency whose diagnosis remains a challenge. Torsion occurs most frequently in women of reproductive age. It is usually associated with the presence of benign masses in the ovary, as malignant tumors are less frequent and less prone to undergo torsion.Case presentationWe report the case of a 17-year-old Caucasian patient who presented to the emergency department with lower abdominal pain. Ultrasonography evaluation revealed a unilateral ovarian lesion, 11.2 cm, with features suspicious for malignancy and torsion. The patient was referred for surgical torsion treatment and underwent unilateral salpingo-oophorectomy. The pathology report confirmed a serous borderline ovarian tumor with torsion.ConclusionsMalignant ovarian torsion in pediatric age groups is rare. Ultrasound examination should be recognized as a powerful tool for diagnosis and management, especially when performed by an experienced ultrasonographer.

Digital Pathology-based Study of Cell- and Tissue-level Morphologic Features in Serous Borderline Ovarian Tumor and High-grade Serous Ovarian Cancer

Background: Serous borderline ovarian tumor (SBOT) and high-grade serous ovarian cancer (HGSOC) are two distinct subtypes of epithelial ovarian tumors, with markedly different biologic background, behavior, prognosis, and treatment. However, the histologic diagnosis of serous ovarian tumors can be subjectively variable and labor-intensive as multiple tumor slides/blocks need to be thoroughly examined to search for these features. Materials and Methods: We developed a novel informatics system to facilitate objective and scalable diagnosis screening for SBOT and HGSOC. The system was built upon Groovy scripts and QuPath to enable interactive annotation and data exchange. Results: The system was used to successfully detect cellular boundaries and extract an expanded set of cellular features representing cell- and tissue-level characteristics. The performance of cell-level classification for both tumor and stroma cells achieved >90% accuracy. The performance of differentiating HGSOC versus SBOT achieved 91%—95% accuracy for 6485 imaging patches which have sufficient tumor and stroma cells (minimum of ten each) and 97% accuracy for classifying patients when aggregating the results to whole-slide image based on consensus. Conclusions: Cellular features digitally extracted from pathological images can be used for cell classification and SBOT v. HGSOC differentiation. Introducing digital pathology into ovarian cancer research could be beneficial to discover potential clinical implications. A larger cohort is required to further evaluate the system.

MDCT-Based Radiomics Features for the Differentiation of Serous Borderline Ovarian Tumors and Serous Malignant Ovarian Tumors.

ObjectiveTo investigate whether multidetector computed tomography (MDCT)-based radiomics features can discriminate between serous borderline ovarian tumors (SBOTs) and serous malignant ovarian tumors (SMOTs).Patients and MethodsEighty patients with SBOTs and 102 patients with SMOTs, confirmed by pathology (training set: n = 127; validation set: n = 55) from December 2017 to June 2020, were enrolled in this study. The interclass correlation coefficient (ICC) and least absolute shrinkage and selection operator (LASSO) regression were applied to select radiomics parameters derived from MDCT images on the arterial phase (AP), venous phase (VP), and equilibrium phase (EP). Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) analysis of each selected parameter was carried out. Heat maps were created to illustrate the distribution of the radiomics parameters. Three models incorporating selected radiomics parameters generated by support vector machine (SVM) classifiers in each phase were analyzed by ROC and compared using the DeLong test.ResultsThe most predictive features selected by ICC and LASSO regression between SBOTs and SMOTs included 9 radiomics parameters on AP, VP, and EP each. Three models on AP, VP, and EP incorporating the selected features generated by SVM classifiers produced AUCs of 0.80 (accuracy, 0.75; sensitivity, 0.74; specificity, 0.75), 0.86 (accuracy, 0.78; sensitivity, 0.80; specificity, 0.75), and 0.73 (accuracy, 0.69; sensitivity, 0.71; specificity, 0.67), respectively. There were no significant differences in the AUCs among the three models (AP vs. VP, P = 0.199; AP vs. EP, P = 0.260; VP vs. EP, P = 0.793).ConclusionMDCT-based radiomics features could be used as biomarkers for the differentiation of SBOTs and SMOTs.

Ovarian stimulation for fertility preservation in a woman with borderline serous ovarian tumor causing a large fluctuating subcutaneous fluid collection: a case report

Ovarian stimulation for fertility preservation in a woman with borderline serous ovarian tumor causing a large fluctuating subcutaneous fluid collection: a case report

A case of ovarian serous borderline tumor diagnosed by endometrial cytology and treated by laparoscopic salpingo-oophorectomy

A case of ovarian serous borderline tumor diagnosed by endometrial cytology and treated by laparoscopic salpingo-oophorectomy

Performance of the IOTA ADNEX Model on Selected Group of Patients with Borderline Ovarian Tumours.

Background and objectives: ultrasound is considered to be the primary tool for preoperative assessment of ovarian masses; however, the discrimination of borderline ovarian tumours (BOTs) is challenging, and depends highly on the experience of the sonographer. The Assessment of Different NEoplasias in the adneXa (ADNEX) model is considered to be a valuable diagnostic tool for preoperative assessment of ovarian masses; however, its performance for BOTs has not been widely studied, due to the low prevalence of these tumours. The aim of this study was to evaluate the performance of ADNEX model for preoperative diagnosis of BOTs. Methods: retrospective analysis of preoperative ultrasound datasets of patients diagnosed with BOTs on the final histology after performed surgery was done at a tertiary oncogynaecology centre during the period of 2012–2018. Results: 85 patients were included in the study. The performance of ADNEX model based on absolute risk (AR) improved with the selection of a more inclusive cut-off value, varying from 47 (60.3%) correctly classified cases of BOTs, with the selected cut-off of 20%, up to 67 (85.9%) correctly classified cases of BOTs with the cut-off value of 3%. When relative risk (RR) was used to classify the tumours, 59 (75.6%) cases were identified correctly. Forty (70.2%) cases of serous and 16 (72.7%) cases of mucinous BOTs were identified when AR with a 10% cut-off value was applied, compared to 44 (77.2%) and 15 (68.2%) cases of serous and mucinous BOTs, correctly classified by RR. The addition of Ca125 improved the performance of ADNEX model for all BOTs in general, and for different subtypes of BOTs. However, the differences were insignificant. Conclusions: The International Ovarian Tumour Analysis (IOTA) ADNEX model performs well in discriminating BOTs from other ovarian tumours irrespective of the subtype. The calculation based on RR or AR with the cut-off value of at least 10% should be used when evaluating for BOTs.

Ovarian serous borderline tumors: specific characteristics of ultrasound images

Ovarian serous borderline tumors are usually found in women of reproductive age and perimenopausal women. Therefore, the issue of preserving the reproductive and hormonal functions is highly relevant. We analyzed specific ultrasonic characteristics of ovarian serous borderline tumors by comparing preoperative ultrasound and postoperative morphological findings in 98 patients. Ultrasonography is an effective method of patient monitoring after conservative and ultraconservative surgeries for ovarian serous borderline tumors.

Results After Conservative Surgery of Stage II/III Serous Borderline Ovarian Tumors.

The aim of this study was to assess the outcomes of a large series of patients treated conservatively for stage II or III serous borderline tumors of the ovary (SBOTs) with a long-term follow-up. Patients with SBOTs and peritoneal implants, treated in or referred to our institution, were retrospectively reviewed. Outcomes of patients treated conservatively (preservation of the uterus and at least a part of one ovary) to promote subsequent fertility were specifically analyzed. Between 1971 and 2017, 212 patients were identified and followed-up. Among these patients, 65 underwent conservative treatment; eight patients had invasive implants. Among patients treated conservatively, 38 (58%) patients recurred. Twenty-eight recurrences were observed under the form of borderline tumor on the spared ovary and/or noninvasive implants, but eight patients had a recurrence under the form of invasive disease. Compared with radical surgery, the use of conservative treatment (p < 0.0001) was a prognostic factor on disease-free survival (DFS), but without an impact on overall survival (OS). Nevertheless, three deaths occurred. Twenty-four pregnancies (13 spontaneous) were observed in 20 patients (29 patients wanted to become pregnant). In this series collecting the largest number of patients undergoing conservative surgery for stage II/III SBOTs, spontaneous pregnancies can be achieved after conservative treatment of advanced-stage disease, but the recurrence rate is high and three deaths were observed. These patients were spared their fertility but with a high rate of recurrence. Uncertainties regarding the safety of conservative treatment should be exposed to these patients.

A serous borderline ovarian tumour in a transgender male adolescent

Here we present a transgender male adolescent with an androgen receptor-positive serous borderline ovarian tumour in the setting of testosterone treatment for medical gender transition. To our knowledge, this is the second report of borderline tumour in a transgender individual and the first in an adolescent, an age group in which borderline tumours are extremely rare. We discuss the specific considerations of treating ovarian tumours in the transgender male population, the incompletely understood role of androgens in the genesis of ovarian epithelial neoplasia, and an emphasis on assessing cancer risk in transgender patients based on patient anatomy.

Borderline ovarian tumors in Denmark 1997-2018: Time trends in incidence by histology, age and educational level.

After some decades with an increasing incidence of borderline ovarian tumors, more recent studies have observed that the incidence rate seems to be leveling off or declining. In this study, we describe the incidence of borderline ovarian tumors in Denmark 1997-2018 by histology, age at diagnosis and educational level. All borderline ovarian tumors registered in the Danish Pathology Registry during 1997-2018 were identified and individual-level educational information was retrieved from nationwide registers. Age-standardized incidence rates were estimated according to histology, age at diagnosis and educational level. To investigate incidence trends over time, the average annual percentage change and corresponding 95% confidence intervals (CIs) were estimated using Poisson regression. We identified 3927 women with borderline ovarian tumors during the study period, of which 1997 (50.9%) were serous and 1743 (44.4%) were mucinous. The age-standardized incidence rate of serous borderline ovarian tumors did not change significantly over calendar time (average annual percentage change=-0.13, 95% confidence interval [CI] -1.13 to 0.88). For mucinous tumors, the age-standardized incidence rate was also relatively stable during the first half of the study period, followed by a decrease from 2.56 to 1.25 per 100000 person-years between 2007-2011 and 2017-2018. Over the entire study period, the incidence rate of mucinous borderline tumors declined on average by 2.91% (95% CI -4.24 to -1.51) per year. The incidence of both types of borderline ovarian tumors seemed to be highest among women with a low educational level. Over calendar time, the incidence of mucinous tumors decreased in all educational groups, whereas the incidence of serous tumors decreased exclusively in women with a high educational level. Time trends did not differ markedly by age at diagnosis. In Denmark, the incidence of serous borderline ovarian tumors was stable during 1997-2018, whereas the incidence of mucinous borderline ovarian tumors decreased. The incidence rates of both types of borderline ovarian tumors tended to be highest among women with a low educational level throughout the study period.