Nongenital cancers metastatic to the ovary

We review our experience with 82 patients with nongenital cancers metastatic to the ovary. All patients were referred for evaluation of an ovarian mass. The patients had primary carcinoma of the breast (n = 28), colon (n = 23), stomach (n = 22), pancreas (n = 7), or gallbladder (n = 2). The overall actuarial 5-year survival rate was 10%. Five-year survival in patients with metastatic colon cancer was significantly higher (23%) than that in patients with metastatic cancer of the breast, stomach, gallbladder, or pancreas, all of whom died within 58 months (P less than 0.05). Patients with unilateral metastatic ovarian involvement had a 5-year survival significantly better than that of those with bilateral involvement (28% vs 5%; p = 0.003). Five-year survival in patients with disease limited to the pelvis was significantly higher than that in those with abdominal spread (22% vs 6%; P less than 0.04). The 5-year survival of patients with residual disease less than 2 cm or greater than 2 cm in diameter was 18% or 4%, respectively (P = 0.002). This pattern applied mainly to differences in patients with primary cancer of the breast or colon (P less than 0.008). These data suggest that an aggressive surgical effort seems to be indicated in colon cancer metastatic to the ovary, as some of these patients may survive 5 years.