Borderline ovarian tumors: the issues of chemotherapy and prognosis

The paper discusses the results of studies conducted in international clinics and the authors’ data on approaches to treating borderline ovarian tumors. It analyzes and comparatively assesses groups of patients who have received chemotherapy and those who have not. The authors mainly state the view that chemotherapy for borderline ovarian tumors affects their prognosis in no way, but makes it even worse in a number of investigations. They also give the data of their observations, which show that attitudes towards chemotherapy for borderline ovarian tumors change in different decades. If in the 1980s chemotherapy was a mandatory treatment stage, it is nowadays prescribed only in exceptional cases in the author’s clinic. Different predictors, such as microinvasion, the micropapillary pattern of borderline tumors, invasive implants, their impact on the probability of recurrences and survival are being investigated. Whether chemotherapy against unfavorable factors, such as invasive implants, may be used is considered. There is evidence that conservative and ultraconservative surgeries for borderline ovarian tumors may be performed. Ultraconservative operations that can spare ovarian tissue as much as possible demonstrate the best pregnancy and labor outcomes as compared with conservative surgical approaches.
Thus, this paper considers whether it is expedient to use chemotherapy in patients with borderline ovarian tumors. It also discusses scientists’ views and the authors’ data on neoadjuvant and adjuvant treatments, predictors in borderline ovarian tumors, and survival rates in different international clinics. 

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