Lymph node metastasis and retroperitoneal lymphadenectomy in ovarian cancer

Contribution of the cadaveric recirculation system in the anatomical study of lymphatic drainage of the ovary: applications in the management of ovarian cancer

PURPOSE

The present knowledge about lymphatic drainage of the ovary is based on carcinological studies, but it has only rarely been studied under physiological conditions. However, it is one of the preferential routes of dissemination in ovarian cancer, and understanding it is therefore vital for optimal carcinological management.Our purpose was to evaluate the feasibility of an innovative technique to study the lymphatic drainage territories of the ovary using a recirculation module on the cadaveric model.

METHODS

We injected patent blue into the cortex of twenty "revascularised" cadaver ovaries with the Simlife recirculation model. We observed the migration of the dye live and described the drainage territories of each ovary.

RESULTS

We observed a staining of the lymphatic vessels and migration of the dye in all the subjects, systematically ipsilateral to the injected ovary. We identified a staining of the lumbo-aortic territory in 65% of cases, with a preferential lateral-caval involvement (60%) for the right ovary and lateral-aortic territory (40%) for the left ovary. A common iliac involvement was observed in only 10% of cases. In 57% of cases, the staining of the lumbo-aortic territory was associated with a staining of the suspensory ligament. The pelvic territory was involved in 50% of cases, with an external iliac staining in 25% of cases and internal in 20%.

CONCLUSION

Our study provides for a better understanding of lymphatic drainage of the ovary using a new detection method, and allows the possibility of improving the teaching for operators with a realistic model. Continuation of this work could lead to considering more targeted and thus less morbid lymph node sampling for lymph node staging in early-stage ovarian cancer.

Pathways of lymphatic spread in gynecologic malignancies

Precise radiologic evaluation of regional adenopathic involvement in pelvic gynecologic tumors is fundamental to clinical practice because of its prognostic and therapeutic significance. Likewise, the identification of metastatic adenopathies at posttreatment imaging is essential for assessing response and detecting recurrence. Similar to urologic neoplasms, gynecologic neoplasms most often spread regionally to the pelvic and retroperitoneal lymph nodes, following the normal drainage pathways of the pelvic organs. Familiarity with routes of dissemination, treatment options, and means of analyzing lymph node characteristics is crucial to determine the extent of disease. Two staging systems can be used in characterizing gynecologic malignancies: the FIGO (International Federation of Gynecology and Obstetrics) system, which is the most commonly and universally used, and the TNM (tumor, node, metastasis) system, which is based on clinical and/or pathologic classification. Anatomic assessment with multidetector computed tomography (CT) and magnetic resonance (MR) imaging is still the most commonly used technique for the detection of lymph node spread, which is mainly based on morphologic criteria, the most important of which is nodal size. However, size has limited diagnostic specificity. Consequently, functional imaging techniques such as diffusion-weighted MR imaging, positron emission tomography combined with CT, lymphoscintigraphy, and sentinel lymph node mapping, which are based on molecular and physiologic activity and allow more precise evaluation, are often incorporated into diagnostic imaging protocols for staging of gynecologic malignancies.

Diagnosis and management of epithelial ovarian cancer

Epithelial ovarian cancer is the leading cause of death from gynecologic cancer in the United States. Although there has been a statistically significant improvement in 5-year survival, in 2005 more than 16,000 women were expected to die of this disease. To date, there is no reliable method to screen for ovarian cancer; therefore, the majority of cases are diagnosed with advanced disease. For early ovarian cancer, appropriate surgical staging and adjuvant chemotherapy for selected cases will result in survival rates of 90-95%. For advanced ovarian cancer, survival depends primarily on the success of the initial surgical procedure. Patients with complete cytoreduction to microscopic disease are often cured with adjuvant chemotherapy. There is growing evidence that these patients with microscopic residual disease are excellent candidates for intraperitoneal chemotherapy, and this mode of chemotherapy delivery may be their best opportunity for cure. Patients with optimal cytoreduction also may benefit from intraperitoneal chemotherapy, but cure is less likely. For patients with suboptimal cytoreduction, intravenous chemotherapy with a combination of carboplatin and paclitaxel is the current standard therapy. Most of these patients will experience recurrence of the cancer, with small chance of cure. Salvage chemotherapy is important in ovarian cancer because many patients respond to several salvage regimens. Because of the high response rate of ovarian cancer, even after relapse, it is probably better to consider 10-year survival as the ideal end point. Finally, new biologic agents, in combination with traditional surgery and chemotherapy, may result in further improvement in survival for patients with ovarian cancer.

Prolonged survival following salvage surgery for chemorefractory ovarian immature teratoma: a case report and review of the literature

BACKGROUND

Data regarding salvage surgery for ovarian immature teratoma (IT) are lacking despite its established role in the management of chemorefractory testicular germ cell tumors. In this report, a case of advanced IT that was salvaged by secondary cytoreduction following failure of both primary therapy and salvage chemotherapy is described, and the available literature is reviewed.

CASE

A 28-year-old patient underwent primary cytoreductive surgery followed by platinum-based chemotherapy for stage IIIC, grade 3, ovarian IT. Second-line chemotherapy was administered after residual disease was identified at second-look surgery. Following failure of salvage chemotherapy, aggressive secondary debulking resulted in long-term disease-free survival of over 48 months.

CONCLUSION

There appears to be a distinct role for salvage surgery in selected cases of chemorefractory IT. More studies are needed to further define the subset of patients who benefit most from this management approach.

Insulin-like growth factor binding protein 2 promotes ovarian cancer cell invasion

BACKGROUND

Insulin-like growth factor binding protein 2 (IGFBP2) is overexpressed in ovarian malignant tissues and in the serum and cystic fluid of ovarian cancer patients, suggesting an important role of IGFBP2 in the biology of ovarian cancer. The purpose of this study was to assess the role of increased IGFBP2 in ovarian cancer cells.

RESULTS

Using western blotting and tissue microarray analyses, we showed that IGFBP2 was frequently overexpressed in ovarian carcinomas compared with normal ovarian tissues. Furthermore, IGFBP2 was significantly overexpressed in invasive serous ovarian carcinomas compared with borderline serous ovarian tumors. To test whether increased IGFBP2 contributes to the highly invasive nature of ovarian cancer cells, we generated IGFBP2-overexpressing cells from an SKOV3 ovarian cancer cell line, which has a very low level of endogenous IGFBP2. A Matrigel invasion assay showed that these IGFBP2-overexpressing cells were more invasive than the control cells. We then designed small interference RNA (siRNA) molecules that attenuated IGFBP2 expression in PA-1 ovarian cancer cells, which have a high level of endogenous IGFBP2. The Matrigel invasion assay showed that the attenuation of IGFBP2 expression indeed decreased the invasiveness of PA-1 cells.

CONCLUSIONS

We therefore showed that IGFBP2 enhances the invasion capacity of ovarian cancer cells. Blockage of IGFBP2 may thus constitute a viable strategy for targeted cancer therapy.

Outcomes After Combined Therapy Including Surgical Resection in Patients with Epithelial Ovarian Cancer Recurrence(s) Exclusively in Lymph Nodes

BACKGROUND

The aim was to study the prognosis for and survival of patients treated with combined therapy (including surgical resection) for nodal recurrences from epithelial ovarian cancer (EOC).

METHODS

This was a retrospective study of a group of 12 patients with a recurrence from EOC, a priori, exclusively located in lymph node(s). All patients underwent surgical resection of nodal metastases, followed by adjuvant therapy.

RESULTS

The median age of patients was 51 (range, 42-71) years. The initial disease stages were as follows: stage IA, n = 5; stage IIA, n = 1; and stage IIIC, n = 6. The median interval between the end of initial treatment and the nodal relapse was 21 (range, 6-72) months. The recurrence was located in the abdominal nodes in 10 patients (pelvic and/or para-aortic area) and was extra-pelvic in one patient, and the last patient had concomitant para-aortic and supraclavicular nodal involvement. Ten patients received postoperative chemotherapy and two had radiation therapy (one patient received both treatments). Eight patients relapsed and four did not. To date, three patients have died of the disease, three are alive with persistent disease, and six are alive and disease-free (including two patients who were treated by surgical resection after relapses twice in abdominal nodes). Five-year overall survival from the time of treatment of recurrent disease is 71% (confidence interval, 41%-90%).

CONCLUSIONS

The prognosis of patients with an a priori isolated nodal recurrence from EOC was good in this group of treated with surgical resection followed by chemoradiation or radiation therapy. This finding argues in favor of proposing surgical resection in such patients.

Les métastases ganglionnaires du cancer épithélial de l'ovaire sont-elles chimio-sensibles ? Étude comparative de la lymphadénectomie première ou après chimiothérapie

OBJECTIVE

The aim of this study is to compare the rates of nodal involvement in epithelial ovarian cancer (EOC) in patients who underwent initial lymphadenectomy (before chemotherapy/group 1) and patients who underwent lymphadenectomy after chemotherapy (during interval debulking surgery/group 2 or second-look surgery/group 3).

PATIENTS AND METHODS

The rates of nodal involvement in 205 patients with EOC who underwent complete pelvic and paraaortic lympadenectomy were compared. One hundred and five patients underwent this surgical procedure at the end of chemotherapy (group 3) or during chemotherapy (group 2) for 28 patients (with three courses of a platinum-based regimen containing paclitaxel) and were compared to 100 patients who underwent initial lymphadenectomy (group 1).

RESULTS

In patients with stage I and II disease the rate of nodal involvement in group 1 and 3 were similar (respectively 19% vs. 21% and 50% vs. 33% in stage I or II disease-NS). In patients with stage III disease, the rates of nodal involvement in patients treated with initial surgery, interval debulking surgery (with paclitaxel-based regimen) and second-look surgery were respectively: 53%, 58% and 48% (NS). Adding to the platinum-based regimen does not seem to improve node sterilization rates.

DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSIONS

The rates of nodal involvement seem to be similar in patients treated before or after chemotherapy but the comparison of groups is difficult because the presence of several bias (particularly in early stage disease). Such results suggest that nodal metastases are not totally sterilized by chemotherapy. However, further studies are needed to evaluate the therapeutic value of lymphadenectomy in patients with nodal involvement.

Does systematic lymphadenectomy have a benefit on survival of suboptimally debulked patients with stage III ovarian carcinoma? A DEGOG* Study

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES

The aim of this study was to investigate whether systematic lymphadenectomy is necessary in suboptimally cytoreduced patients with stage III ovarian carcinoma.

METHODS

Prognostic significance and the effect on survival of systematic pelvic and para-aortic lymphadenectomy were investigated retrospectively in 61 suboptimally debulked patients with stage III ovarian carcinoma. All patients received platinum-based chemotherapy after surgery; 51 patients had been followed for > or =1 year, or until death. Survival curves were calculated according to the Kaplan-Meier method and were evaluated by log-rank test.

RESULTS

Most patients had stage IIIC disease (60.7%), poorly differentiated tumor (45.9%), and serous histological type (59%). Systematic pelvic and para-aortic lymphadenectomy was performed in 29 patients (47.5%). Lymph node metastases were found in 17 (58.6%) patients; the median number of metastatic nodes was 7 (5-10). Lymph node metastasis was significantly higher in patients with residual disease of >2 cm (P < 0.05). Both univariate and multivariate analyses showed that systematic pelvic and para-aortic lymphadenectomy was not a significant prognostic factor (P > 0.05). In lymph node-dissected patients, survival was significantly longer in patients with minimal residual tumor than in those with residual tumor size >2 cm (P = 0.005).

CONCLUSIONS

Lymphadenectomy seems not to have an evident prognostic value and a benefit on survival in suboptimally debulked patients with stage III ovarian carcinoma.

The benefits of comprehensive surgical staging in the management of early-stage epithelial ovarian carcinoma

OBJECTIVE

The management of understaged patients with apparent clinically early ovarian cancer is difficult. Options include offering chemotherapy based on histopathologic factors or reoperation to obtain the necessary information needed to assign an accurate surgical stage. This study aims to compare these two approaches and to define the role of staging surgery in this common patient population.

METHODS

Retrospective chart reviews were carried out at the Universities of Manitoba and Saskatchewan over the period 1975 to 1999. Demographic data and surgical findings were abstracted and entered into a computerized database for analysis. Patients not having surgical staging procedures were offered platinum-based chemotherapy based on high tumor grades, dense adhesions, and presence of surface excrescences or large necrotic areas. Patients with surgically proven stage I disease were treated with no further therapy regardless of histopathologic factors. Descriptive statistics are used to summarize the data. Logistic and Cox regression models are used to identify significant predicting factors for recurrences and progression-free intervals.

RESULTS

One hundred and thirty-eight patients presented with tumor macroscopically confined to the ovary at the time of laparotomy. The median age at presentation is 56.5 (18-90). The histology distribution was serous tumor in 28.3%, mucinous in 26.1%, endometrioid in 23.2%, clear cell in 14.5%, anaplastic in 2.2%, and mixed types in 5.8%. The grade distribution was 47.1% grade 1, 27.5% Grade 2, and 25.4% Grade 3. Sixty-eight percent of the patients had a comprehensive surgical staging procedure initially. Thirty-six percent of these patients were found to have extraovarian metastases and were subsequently treated with adjuvant chemotherapy. Forty-three percent of those not having staging laparotomy were offered chemotherapy based on high risk factors only. At a median follow-up of 58 months. 77% of patients remained disease-free and 23% had recurrent disease. Of 60 patients with surgically proven stage I treated expectantly, 6 (10%) recurred, whereas of 25 unstaged patients treated expectantly due to lack of risk factors 7 (28%) recurred (P = 0.036). In patients treated expectantly, a significant survival advantage was noted in the staged group. Logistic regression showed age (OR 1.032, P = 0.043), high grade (OR 4.16, P = 0.003), and lack of a proper staging surgery (OR 2.62, P = 0.032) to be important factors predicting recurrence. In terms of progression-free interval, only age (OR 1.027, P = 0.048) and tumor grade (OR 3.62, P = 0.05) are significant predictors.

CONCLUSION

Absence of surgical pathologic high-risk factors is inferior to comprehensive staging laparotomy findings in guiding recommendations for subsequent adjuvant therapy. Patients who have not been properly staged stand a significant risk of recurrent disease despite more frequent use of chemotherapy. All clinically early-stage ovarian cancer patients should be considered for comprehensive staging surgery prior to further treatment recommendations.

Fertility preservation in gynecologic cancer

SUBJECT

Management of patients with gynecologic cancer can now often be tailored to the extent of the disease and preservation of child-bearing ability and/or sexual function may be possible for certain women with early invasive disease.

METHOD

A better understanding of the tumor-biology, and the consideration of different clinicopathologic factors, that bear prognostic significance in therapeutic modalities, will allow more and more individualization of treatment.

DISCUSSION

Management of young women with early gynecologic cancer should therefore be individualized with the risk of conservative therapy balanced against the dangers and advantages of more radical therapy. Experts in gynecologic oncology and infertility together with an informed patient and her family should make treatment decisions.

OUTCOME

This article will review the conservative surgical management of early invasive cancers of the ovary, cervix and endometrium, in order to help preserve child-bearing capacity. In addition, management of gynecologic cancers diagnosed during pregnancy will also be discussed.

Does paraaortic lymphadenectomy have a benefit in the treatment of ovarian cancer that is apparently confined to the ovaries?

We conducted a retrospective review of all epithelial ovarian carcinoma patients with disease that is apparently confined to the ovaries who were treated in the Obstetric and Gynecologic Hospital of the University of Tours. In our hospital, no lymphadenectomies for such epithelial ovarian carcinoma patients are carried out. We studied the survival of these patients that were operated upon from 1 December 1975 until 1 August 1997. 43 epithelial ovarian carcinoma patients were studied; 22 were stage Ia, 1 was stage Ib and 20 were stage Ic. The average age was 58 years (range 27-86 years). 5% (2/43) developed recurrent disease and the rates of disease-free and overall survival after 5 years were 83% and 90.3% respectively. These results are very close to those described in literature for patients who underwent paraaortic and pelvic lymphadenectomy. As no series to date has demonstrated the benefit of paraaortic lymphadenectomy on survival and we know that paraaortic lymphadenectomy increases morbidity, we think it reasonable to propose surgery without lymphadenectomy for the treatment of early ovarian epithelial cancer patients whose disease is apparently confined to the ovaries.

Lymph node metastasis in stage I epithelial ovarian cancer

OBJECTIVES

A relatively high incidence of para-aortic and pelvic lymph node metastasis is found in epithelial ovarian cancer. This paper investigates the clinicomorphological features of intra-abdominal stage I epithelial ovarian cancer that may predict the occurrence of lymph node metastasis and the prognosis of patients in whom lymph node metastases are identified.

METHODS

From November 1988 to December 1997 we performed systematic para-aortic and pelvic lymphadenectomy as primary surgery in 47 patients with intra-abdominal stage I epithelial ovarian cancer. The incidence of lymph node metastasis in these patients and the clinicomorphological features of the patients with lymph node involvement were examined.

RESULTS

Five patients (10.6%) were metastasis positive (IC: four; IA: one), of whom four had serous adenocarcinoma. Serous adenocarcinoma was associated with a significantly higher incidence of metastases than other histological types (P < 0.05). The number of positive lymph nodes was one in four patients and two in one patient, and the metastatic sites ranged from the para-aortic to the suprainguinal lymph nodes. All five metastasis-positive patients were alive and disease free at the time of this report (survival 28-85 months: median 59 months).

CONCLUSION

This clinical study suggests that serous adenocarcinoma carries a high risk of lymph node metastasis, requiring systematic lymphadenectomy for accurate staging in intra-abdominal stage I epithelial ovarian cancer.

Cytoreductive surgery for advanced stages of ovarian cancer

During the past two decades, maximum cytoreductive surgery (also called debulking surgery) has been the recommended surgical approach for advanced stages of ovarian carcinoma. The residual tumor volume after surgery is one of the strongest prognostic factors, and only patients who undergo complete or optimal surgery are likely to be long-term survivors (i.e., 50% after five years). A well-trained surgeon in the field of gynecologic oncology can achieve an optimal tumor reduction in up to 75% of patients with advanced stage ovarian cancer. During the procedure, bowel resection, especially rectosigmoid, must be undertaken in 30% to 40% of cases, and para-aortic and pelvic lymphadenectomy should be performed after adequate tumor reduction in the abdominal cavity. The experienced surgeon can perform these surgeries with an acceptable morbidity, allowing chemotherapy to be undertaken within the month following surgery. However, very advanced cancer with massive peritoneal carcinomatosis and/or Stage IV disease requires a very aggressive surgical procedure but yields a poor prognosis and a higher risk of unacceptable complications. For these worst cases, the concept of cytoreductive surgery is moving toward the alternative strategy of chemosurgical cytoreduction, in which interval cytoreductive surgery is undertaken after three cycles of front-line chemotherapy. The goal of this experimental strategy is to achieve a complete tumor response after front-line chemosurgical therapy, and a better quality of life.

Assessment of metastases to aortic and pelvic lymph nodes in epithelial ovarian carcinoma. A proposal for essential sites for lymph node biopsy

BACKGROUND

In staging epithelial ovarian carcinoma, it is necessary to assess the presence of lymph node metastases. However, the essential sites of selective lymph node biopsy have yet to be determined.

METHODS

The distribution of metastatic aortic and pelvic lymph nodes was studied in 48 patients with positive lymph nodes of 110 patients with ovarian carcinoma who underwent systematic lymphadenectomy of the aortic and pelvic regions extending to the level of the renal vessels. For purpose of analysis, the lymph nodes were classified into five subgroups: the aortic lymph nodes above the inferior mesenteric artery (A1), the aortic lymph nodes below the inferior mesenteric artery (A2), the common iliac and sacral lymph nodes (P1), the internal and external iliac and obturator lymph nodes (P2), and the suprainguinal (the lowest external iliac) lymph nodes (P3).

RESULTS

The incidence of metastases to A1, A2, P1, P2, and P3 was 79%, 71%, 46%, 77%, and 40%, respectively. Provided that 2 of the 5 lymph node subgroups were selected for biopsy, the combination of A1 and P2 gave the best results in sensitivity (94% [45 of 48 patients]) and negative (95% [62 of 65 patients]) predictive value for detection of lymph node metastases.

CONCLUSIONS

These data indicate that aortic lymph nodes above the inferior mesenteric artery and the internal and external iliac and obturator lymph nodes are essential sites for selective lymph node biopsy in staging epithelial ovarian carcinoma.

Lymphadenectomy in stage-III serous cystadenocarcinoma of the ovary

OBJECTIVE

To elucidate the effects of lymphadenectomy on the prognosis for ovarian cancer.

METHOD

A retrospective study of 69 patients with stage-III serous cystadenocarcinoma was performed.

RESULTS

Among the 69 patients, 36 were not treated by lymphadenectomy. Both pelvic and para-aortic lymphadenectomies were performed on 13 patients at the initial operation and on 11 at the second operation. The group (n = 13) treated by both pelvic and para-aortic lymphadenectomies at the initial operation had a disease-free survival rate that was significantly higher than the non-lymphadenectomy group (n = 36) or the group (n = 5) treated by pelvic or para-aortic lymphadenectomy alone (P < 0.04). These 54 patients were subjected to multivariate analysis for lymphadenectomy at the initial operation, and a significant correlation was found between disease-free survival rate and both pelvic and para-aortic lymphadenectomies (P < 0.05).

CONCLUSION

These results suggest that systematic lymphadenectomy can reduce the rate of recurrence.

Prognostic evaluation of lymphadenectomy for epithelial ovarian cancer

Between 1989 and 1991, 150 patients with ovarian cancer were treated with chemotherapy, including cisplatin, in the Tokai Ovarian Tumor Study Group. Of these patients, 25 underwent cytoreductive surgery with lymphadenectomy, including removal of either pelvic or para-aortic lymph nodes, and 36 underwent both lymphadenectomies. A significant difference was observed between survival curves of the groups with positive and negative lymph nodes, respectively (P = 0.0049). The overall survival was longer in the lymphadenectomy group than in the nonlymphadenectomy group (P = 0.0842), and a significantly longer survival time was noted for stage III patients who underwent lymphadenectomy compared with those who did not (P = 0.0185). Multivariate analysis demonstrated that lymphadenectomy is a positive prognostic factor. The authors conclude that both pelvic and para-aortic lymph nodes should be resected to improve survival as well as to assess exact staging in patients with ovarian cancer.

Maximum effort in the management of ovarian cancer, including pelvic and para-aortic lymphadenectomy

Patients treated for ovarian cancer at the Mercy Hospital for Women, Melbourne over a 5 1/2 year period were studied with an emphasis on the need for lymphadenectomy. There were 80 patients identified with ovarian cancer. Forty patients underwent pelvic and/or para-aortic lymphadenectomy and 25 (62.5%) were found to have lymph node metastases, in 7 of the 40 women the lymphadenectomy resulting in upstaging of the disease. FIGO has adopted a surgicopathological approach to the staging of ovarian cancer and this requires lymphadenectomy to be performed. The importance of accurate staging in clinically early ovarian cancer and maximum surgical effort in advanced disease is discussed with particular regard to the place of lymphadenectomy.