Background: Several adjuvant care interventions to treat women with Stage I ovarian carcinoma have been studied. The aim of the current systematic review was to determine the optimal strategy for adjuvant care for women with Stage I ovarian carcinoma.
Methods: A systematic search was conducted to find randomized controlled trials published between 1965 and April 2004 that examined adjuvant therapy (e.g., chemotherapy and radiotherapy) for women with Stage I ovarian carcinoma.
Results: Thirteen randomized controlled trials were identified that compared adjuvant therapies for women with Stage I ovarian carcinoma. Eight of these trials reported results only for patients with Stage I disease. The majority of patients in the five randomized trials that compared adjuvant chemotherapy with no chemotherapy did not receive lymphadenectomy as part of their surgical staging. The pooled results for Stage I patients indicated a survival benefit (relative risk [RR], 0.74; 95% confidence interval [CI], 0.58-0.94; P = 0.01), and a benefit in terms of a reduced risk of developing disease recurrence (RR, 0.70; 95% CI, 0.58-0.86; P = 0.0004) favoring adjuvant chemotherapy. Platinum-based adjuvant chemotherapy was reported to improve overall 5-year survival (absolute survival difference 8%; 95% CI, 2-12%; hazard ratio, 0.67; 95% CI, 0.50-0.90; P = 0.008).
Conclusions: Adjuvant platinum-based chemotherapy for women with Stage I ovarian carcinoma improved survival and reduced the risk of recurrent disease. The optimally staged group accounted for approximately 10% of women with Stage I disease. The role of adjuvant chemotherapy in optimally staged patients (especially those with good prognostic factors) has not been assessed adequately.