Management of epithelial ovarian cancer at a tertiary centre in South Africa: a retrospective evaluation of early recurrence and contributory factors

Thesis (MPhil)--Stellenbosch University, 2019.Introduction. Epithelial ovarian cancer is associated with high recurrence rates and poor survival, especially if the disease is advanced, surgery sub-optimal, and or has high-grade histology. However, there is a paucity of information regarding recurrence and survival in epithelial ovarian cancer in Africa. We aimed to assess early recurrence rate, associated factors, and patterns of recurrence of epithelial ovarian cancer, at a tertiary centre in South Africa. Materials and Methods. A retrospective review of records of patients with epithelial ovarian cancer managed in a single institution over a nine-year period was performed with relevant ethics approval (S18/04/078). Case records were searched and information about age, parity, baseline serum CA125, histologic sub-type and grade, FIGO stage, neoadjuvant and adjuvant chemotherapy status and number of cycles, optimality of staging/debulking surgery, the month adjuvant treatment was completed, and month of recurrence were abstracted. Exclusion criteria included documented primary peritoneal cancer, platinum-resistant patients, and those with inadequate follow-up information. IBM SPSS version 25® was used for statistical analysis. Descriptive statistics which included percentages, means and medians, were used to assess recurrence. Fisher’s exact and χ² tests were used to assess for factors with significant association to early recurrence. p-value