Serous and non-serous ovarian carcinoma: histological tumor type as related to the grade of differentiation and disease prognosis - Revista Brasileira de Ginecologia e Obstetrícia

PURPOSE: To compare the clinical-pathological features of women with serous and non-serous ovarian tumors and to identify the factors associated with survival. METHODS: In this reconstructed cohort study, 152 women with ovarian carcinoma, who attended medical consultations between 1993 and 2008 and who were followed-up until 2010 were included. The histological type was clearly established for all women: 81 serous carcinomas and 71 non-serous tumors (17 endometrioid, 44 mucinous and 10 clear cell carcinomas). The crude and adjusted odds ratios (OR), with the respective 95% confidence intervals (95%CI), were calculated for the clinical and pathological features, comparing serous and non-serous histological types. The Hazard Ratios (HR) with 95%CI was calculated for overall survival, considering the clinical and pathological features. RESULTS: Comparison of serous to non-serous tumor types by univariate analysis revealed that serous tumors were more frequently found in postmenopausal women, and were predominantly high histological grade (G2 and G3), advanced stage, with CA125>250 U/mL, and with positive peritoneal cytology. After multivariate regression, the only association remaining was that of high histological grade with serous tumors (adjusted OR 15.1; 95%CI 2.9-77.9). We observed 58 deaths from the disease. There was no difference in overall survival between women with serous carcinoma and women with non-serous carcinoma (HR 0.4; 95%CI 0.1 – 1.1). It was observed that women aged 50 years or less (HR 0.4; 95%CI 0.1-0.9) and those who were in menacne (HR 0.3; 95%CI 0.1-0.9) had a longer survival compared respectively to those above 50 years of age and menopaused. High histological grade (G2 and G3) (p<0.01), stages II-IV (p<0.008) and positive cytology (p<0.001) were significantly associated with worse prognosis. CA125 and the presence of ascites did not correlate with survival. Survival was poor when the disease was diagnosed in stages II to IV and compared to stage I (log-rank p<0.01) regardless of histological type (serous and non-serous). CONCLUSIONS: The proportion of high histological grade (G2 and G3) was significantly higher among serous than non-serous carcinomas. Serous and non-serous histological types were not related to overall survival.