Relapse and disease specific survival in 1143 Danish women diagnosed with borderline ovarian tumours (BOT)

• Optimal management of women with borderline ovarian tumour (BOT) is controversial
• Relapse and survival was evaluated combining data from national registries
• A total of 3.7% and 0.6% of 1143 women experienced relapse or died from their BOT.
• Long-term follow-up is not necessary in stage IA BOT and no residual disease or microinvasion

ObjectiveThe aim of the study was to evaluate the rate of relapse as well as disease-free, overall, and disease-specific survival in women with borderline ovarian tumour (BOT). Furthermore, the study aims to identify the clinical parameters correlated to relapse.MethodsNational clinical data of women diagnosed with BOT from January 2005 to January 2013 constituted the basis for our study population. The prognostic influence of clinical variables was evaluated using univariate and multivariate analyses.ResultsA total of 1143 women were eligible for analysis, with 87.9% in FIGO stage I and 12.1% in FIGO stages II–IV. Relapse of BOT was detected in 3.7%, hereof 40.5% with malignant transformation. The five-year disease-free survival was 97.6% in FIGO stage I and 87.3% in FIGO stages II–IV. Younger age, laparoscopic surgical approach, fertility sparing surgery, FIGO stages II–IV, bilateral tumour presence, serous histology, implants and microinvasion of the tumour were significantly associated with relapse in univariate analyses. The overall five-year survival rate was 92.2% in FIGO stage I and 89.0% in FIGO stages II–IV. Out of 77 deaths in total, only seven women died from BOT.ConclusionsA general favourable prognosis in women with BOT was confirmed in our study. Our findings indicate that systematic, long-term follow-up does not seem necessary in women treated for FIGO stage IA BOT with no residual disease or microinvasion.