Value of chest CT scans in routine ovarian carcinoma follow-up

The purpose of our study was to examine the role of chest CT scans in routine follow-up of patients who had been treated for ovarian carcinoma.

The radiologic follow-up of 127 women with metatastic ovarian carcinoma who had undergone surgery and chemotherapy between 1985 and 1996 was reviewed. In reviewing each patient's medical record, we determined whether a chest CT scan had been obtained, and if so, how many had been obtained during the patient's follow-up period. For patients with a chest CT scan, an analysis of the presence of disease in the thorax and its relation to disease in the abdomen and pelvis, as revealed on CT images, was performed.

Of the patients whose cases were examined, 82 (65%) had had at least one chest CT scan obtained, with more than 50% having had three or more scans. Thirty-two (39%) patients had no radiologic evidence of disease. Twenty-eight (34%) showed disease in the abdomen or pelvis but no disease in the chest. Eighteen (22%) had both chest and abdominal or pelvic CT scans that indicated disease. In all of these patients, abdominal or pelvic disease had appeared on scans before spreading to the chest. Four (5%) of the patients had isolated chest disease. The rate of lung metastases from ovarian carcinoma in our series was 6%. In all of these patients, pulmonary metastases were preceded either by abdominal or pelvic disease or by a rise in tumor markers.

Pulmonary metastases in ovarian carcinoma are rare and usually preceded by recurrence of carcinoma in the abdomen or pelvis. We suggest that chest CT scanning could be eliminated in the routine follow-up of patients who have been treated for ovarian carcinoma; yet it should be performed for those patients with elevated serum tumor markers but without evidence of abdominal or pelvic disease.