Metastatic lymph node number in epithelial ovarian carcinoma: Does it have any clinical significance?

ObjectiveTo analyze the clinicopathological correlations of metastatic lymph node (LN) numbers in patients with epithelial ovarian carcinoma.MethodA total of 328 patients with epithelial ovarian carcinoma diagnosed and treated at Hacettepe University Hospital during 1982–2005 were retrospectively reviewed. Patients' age, number of resected lymph nodes, clinical disease stage, preoperative Ca-125 levels, peritoneal cytology, presence of ascites, tumor histology, tumor grade, maximal tumor diameter, cytoreductive success, overall and disease-free survivals were compared with respect to the number of metastatic lymph nodes (< 4 vs. ≥ 4).ResultsThe mean number of resected lymph nodes was 24.5 and mean number of metastatic lymph nodes was 6.2. About 47.3% (n = 155) of the patients had < 4 metastatic lymph nodes and the remaining 52.7% of patients (n = 173) had ≥ 4 metastatic lymph nodes. Univariate comparison of the two groups relived preoperative Ca-125 values, peritoneal cytology and clinical disease stage to be significantly different among the two groups. However, multivariate analysis revealed a high Ca-125 level (≥ 500 IU/l) to be unique factor significantly different among the groups. Survival analysis also could not find a significant difference with respect to overall and disease-free survival among the groups.ConclusionThe number of metastatic lymph nodes increases as the preoperative Ca-125 values increase. Other patient characteristics do not have a significant effect on the number of metastatic lymph nodes. Metastatic LN number does not have a prognostic significance in terms of either the overall or the disease-free survival. Prospective series are needed for a definitive conclusion.