Prognosis of ovarian cancer

Fifty-three patients were treated in the gynaecological unit of the Mater Hospital for ovarian cancer between 1980-86. The demographic features of the patients reviewed were similar to those of the Southern Tumour Registry (1981-85), and in the absence of a national tumour registry are presumed to be representative of the country as a whole. Data from the STR indicates that the annual incidence of ovarian cancer is 20/100,000; extrapolating from these figures to the national would suggest that approximately 280 women develop ovarian cancer each year. The majority of Mater patients (72%) had either stage I or stage II ovarian cancer which is at variance with other studies and may reflect an under-staging at initial laparotomy. Their survival rates were better than those of the STR, probably because they had presented earlier and had a lower portion of undifferented tumours. Ovarian cancer is the main cause of death from genital cancer in Ireland. While the stage of disease at diagnosis is critical to survival, chemotherapy did not influence survival.