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

To analyze the clinicopathological correlations of metastatic lymph node (LN) numbers in patients with epithelial ovarian carcinoma.

A 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. > or = 4).

The 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 > or = 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 (> or = 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.

The 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.