Is routine appendectomy beneficial in the management of ovarian cancer?

A retrospective analysis of 136 patients with ovarian carcinoma subjected to appendectomy as a part of surgical procedure was carried out to assess the importance of appendectomy in patients with ovarian cancer. Of the 136 patients studied, 94 had epithelial and 38 had non-epithelial type of primary ovarian carcinoma. In the remaining 4 patients, the primary operation was performed with an intraoperative diagnosis of ovarian carcinoma but the final pathological examination revealed appendiceal carcinoma metastatic to ovaries. The overall appendiceal involvement in the study group with primary ovarian cancer was found to be 32.5% (43/132). This figure was 15.7% and 39.3% for non-epithelial and epithelial tumors, respectively. Involvement of the appendix ranged from 8.8% for patients with stage I disease to 46.0% for patients with stage III-IV disease. Four of the appendices found to be inflamed during the surgical explorations were later reported as acute appendicitis. The frequent occurrence of metastatic disease in the appendix in patients with ovarian cancer suggests routine appendectomy is appropriate for staging early cases and for contributing to maximal cytoreduction in advanced cases.