Objective
To investigate the association between intraperitoneal (IP) disease
dissemination patterns, residual disease (RD), surgical complexity, and
molecular subtypes in advanced high-grade serous ovarian cancer (HGSOC).
Methods
741 patients with operable stage III–IV HGSOC undergoing
primary debulking surgery at Mayo Clinic from 1994–2011 were
categorized into four mutually exclusive IP disease dissemination patterns:
upper abdominal (60%), miliary (16%), lower abdominal
(15%), and pelvic (9%). Surgical complexity was classified
as high, intermediate, or low; RD status was defined as 0, 0.1–0.5,
0.6–1.0, or >1 cm; molecular subtype assignments were
derived from expression profiling of tumors from 334 patients.
Results
Patients with either miliary or upper abdominal dissemination
patterns were less likely to achieve RD0 compared to patients with pelvic
and lower abdominal dissemination patterns (25% vs. 9% and
62%, each P<0.001) despite higher surgical
complexity (39% vs. 6% and 20%, each
P<0.001). Among the subset with molecular
subtype data, patients with mesenchymal subtype of tumors were more likely
to have upper abdominal or miliary dissemination patterns compared to
patients with differentiated, proliferative, or immunoreactive subtypes
(90% vs. 77%, 70%, 69%, respectively,
P<0.05).
Conclusions
IP disease dissemination patterns are associated with RD, surgical
complexity, and tumor molecular subtypes. Patients with upper abdominal or
miliary dissemination patterns are more likely to have mesenchymal HGSOC and
in turn achieve lower rates of complete resection. This provides a plausible
model for how the biologic behavior of molecular subtypes is manifest in
disease and oncologic outcomes.
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