Extraovarian peritoneal serous papillary carcinoma. A clinicopathologic study of 31 cases

The rate and clinical features of patients admitted to King George V Hospital with extraovarian peritoneal serous papillary carcinoma during a 9-year period were reviewed. In this time, 31 of 236 (13%) patients with an initial diagnosis of invasive serous ovarian carcinoma fulfilled the surgicopathologic criteria for this entity. All patients had disseminated tumor equivalent to ovarian Stage III and IV disease (International Federation of Gynecology and Obstetrics [FIGO]) and with predominantly high-grade neoplasms. They were managed by surgical exploration, tumor debulking where possible, and postoperative chemotherapy. A comparison with a contemporaneous series of 139 patients with primary epithelial ovarian carcinoma matched for stage and grade of disease and managed similarly showed no difference in actuarial survival. The median survival times were 11.3 months for patients with extraovarian serous papillary carcinomas and 13.5 months for patients with equivalent primary ovarian neoplasms. The features of the disease and the treatment regimens used are discussed.