What is the treatment for borderline serous ovarian tumors?

The ovaries are very important for women. If there is a problem with the ovaries, it will directly affect the female body. Both the appearance and the internal body will show serious aging phenomena. Women with ovarian borderline serous tumors will also have some complications, and if necessary, the ovaries need to be removed. Next, we will introduce to you in detail the treatment methods of ovarian borderline serous tumors.

1. Conservative surgery for borderline ovarian tumors: Conservative surgery usually refers to the removal of the affected side of the adnex and is suitable for young patients who want to have children. The surgery should meet the following conditions: ① The patient is young and eager to have children; ② It is confirmed to be stage I, and the contralateral ovary and fallopian tube are normal; ③ There are conditions for long-term follow-up after surgery. If a young patient has a tumor on one ovary, ascites or peritoneal lavage fluid is usually collected after laparotomy, and then one side of the ovary is removed first. If there is any suspicion during the dissection, frozen sections are sent. If the pathology report shows a borderline ovarian tumor, the contralateral ovary should be dissected and sent for pathological examination. At the same time, the pelvis and upper abdomen should be carefully explored. If there is no evidence of malignancy, no other surgery is required. The resected specimen should be examined by sectioning every 1 to 2 cm to determine whether there is invasion. If the postoperative paraffin section pathological examination shows cancer, ovarian cancer restaging surgery and/or chemotherapy can be performed according to the situation.

2. Other surgeries for borderline ovarian tumors: For adults with clinical stage I tumors who no longer need to have children, total hysterectomy, bilateral adnexa, omentum, and appendectomy can be performed. Because benign, borderline, and malignant components often coexist in the same tumor, if intraoperative frozen section pathological examination cannot determine borderline or malignant characteristics, lymph node dissection should generally be performed: tumor cytoreductive surgery can be performed for patients in stages II, III, and IV. Buttini et al. believe that patients with more advanced disease should undergo tumor cytoreductive surgery, but whether lymph nodes should be removed is questionable because it is not related to survival. For patients who achieve complete remission after clinical treatment, it is now generally recommended not to undergo a second exploration.

3. Adjuvant therapy: There is no consensus on whether patients beyond stage I need adjuvant chemotherapy. Genadry believes that adjuvant therapy is not necessary because borderline cancer outside the ovary is multi-primary rather than metastatic. Sutton et al. reported 32 cases of stage III borderline ovarian cancer. After surgery, 40.6% had no residual tumor, while 59.4% still had residual tumor. The effect of chemotherapy was better.

The above contents are about some common treatments for ovarian borderline serous tumors. Although the ovaries are important organs for female reproduction, the ovaries generally cannot be retained after suffering from this tumor. Sometimes there is a risk of recurrence even if the ovaries are removed, so patients must have enough confidence to receive relevant treatments.