Ovarian carcinoma metastases to gastrointestinal tract appear to spread like colon carcinoma: implications for surgical resection.

OBJECTIVE: To profile the incidence of mesenteric lymph node metastases in patients with ovarian carcinoma and metastases to the gastrointestinal tract in order to determine the optimal technique for surgical debulking. METHODS: The slides and charts of all patients with ovarian carcinoma who had undergone bowel resection were retrospectively reviewed and follow-up information was obtained. RESULTS: Of 100 separate bowel resections 44% had penetration of metastases to the muscularis, 18% had invasion through the submucosa, 4% had mucosal perforation, and two patients had clinical perforation. Fifty-five percent of all resections demonstrated lymph-vascular space invasion (LVSI). In the 33 specimens which included pathologic analysis of mesenteric lymph nodes, 79% had positive LVSI, which correlated with the presence of mesenteric lymph node metastases (P = 0.05) but not histologic grade (P = 0.20). When surgery was performed for secondary debulking, the frequency of mesenteric node metastasis was higher (P = 0.15). There was a trend for patients with positive mesenteric nodes to fail sooner (median survival, 20 months vs 32 months). CONCLUSIONS: Because ovarian carcinoma metastases to the gastrointestinal tract are frequently associated with metastases to mesenteric lymph nodes, gynecologic oncology surgeons may wish to consider resection of the mesentery in a wedge fashion similar to current standards of resection for primary bowel carcinoma in cases in which a bowel resection is being performed with the intent to debulk to zero visible residual disease.