Oncological safety of minimally invasive surgery in borderline ovarian tumor and ovarian cancer: a retrospective comparative study.

Abstract

Objective: This study aimed to evaluate the oncological safety of laparoscopic surgery for patients with benign tumors who underwent laparoscopic surgery at our facility and were subsequently diagnosed with borderline ovarian tumors or ovarian cancer.

Methods: We conducted a retrospective review of 45 patients initially diagnosed with benign ovarian tumors who underwent laparoscopic surgery at our institution from January 2009 to April 2024.

Results: Postoperative pathological examination identified 32 cases of borderline ovarian tumors and 13 cases of ovarian cancer. Laparoscopic cystectomy was performed in 14 (43.8%) borderline cases and 4 (30.8%) ovarian cancer cases. Out of 14 patients with borderline ovarian tumors who underwent cystectomy, 8 subsequently underwent staging laparotomy, whereas 6 underwent only ovarian tumor cystectomy. In contrast, none of the patients with ovarian cancer completed treatment with only ovarian tumor cystectomy. Recurrent disease was observed in 9.4% of borderline tumor cases, all of which were successfully managed with further surgery. In the ovarian cancer group, recurrence occurred in 31% of patients, with 3 resulting in tumor-related mortality.

Conclusion: Laparoscopic surgery for borderline ovarian tumors is suggested to be oncologically safe, with low recurrence rate and no adverse impact on survival. However, for ovarian cancer, particularly in cases with peritoneal dissemination, rapid disease progression remains a concern. While this study suggests that laparoscopic surgery may be a viable option for borderline ovarian tumors, further research is needed to validate these findings, particularly for ovarian cancer.