Borderline malignant tumors of the ovary: study of prognostic factors

A 16-year review of borderline tumors of the ovary was carried out to study the clinical features and outcomes of patients and to assess the value of color Doppler ultrasound in preoperative diagnosis. The records of 53 patients with borderline tumors of the ovary were retrospectively analyzed for clinical features, sonographic findings and survival. Twenty-three of 44 patients with stage I disease were treated conservatively without recurrence. Seven of eight (87.5%) patients with stage III disease developed recurrent or persistent tumors within 3 years. Overall, eight of 53 (15.1%) patients had recurrent or persistent disease. Twenty-three of 44 (52.3%) patients with borderline ovarian tumors showed morphologic malignancy by gray-scale sonography. Ten of 13 (76.9%) patients who had color Doppler ultrasound examination had detectable intratumoral blood flow. The mean resistance index value was 0.47 (range, 0.3-0.6). Three of these patients (30%) had a resistance index value < 0.4. The results indicated that the extent of disease as reflected by the clinical stage was the main factor for prediction of recurrence, and borderline tumors of the ovary were not efficiently differentiated from benign or malignant tumors by resistance index values obtained from color Doppler ultrasound.