This is a retrospective study that includes 102 case records of female patients presenting with epithelial ovarian carcinoma. Survival, as in the other series, depended on the stage of cancer at the time of diagnosis, with the mean survival rates being 77.1, 57.7, 26.6, and 19.3 for stages I, II, III, and IV, respectively.
However, above all, survival was related to the amount of tumor tissue remaining after the initial laparotomy. The 5-year survival rates were 84%, 42%, and 10% when there was no residual tumor, when the latter was less than 2 cm and more than 2 cm, respectively. Unlike what is generally found in such studies, the diagnosis here was established in earlier stages, as 53% of the cases of interest were female patients with stage I or II carcinoma.
The main argument, therefore, is based on the methods of early diagnosis and, judging by what is generally accepted in the literature, in the place of prolonged surgery.