BACKGROUND: In patients with FIGO (International Federation of Gynecology and Obstetrics) stage I ovarian carcinoma given care with or without subspecialists, we compared completeness of initial staging and disease-free survival. METHODS: Two groups of patients with stage I ovarian carcinoma were compared. Patients were managed by either gynecologic oncologists or community-based physicians. The two groups were compared for similarities in demographic, tumor, and substage characteristics and survival differences. RESULTS: Fifty-four patients with stage I ovarian cancer were included. The two groups were comparable in age, gravidity, parity, grade, and substage. Substaging was determined to be adequate in 100% of the gynecologic oncologist group and 28% of the community-based group. Postoperative chemotherapy was given to 79% and 36% of the two groups, respectively. Six-year survival was 90% in the gynecologic oncologist group and 68% in the community-based group. CONCLUSIONS: Of these two groups of patients with stage I ovarian cancer, the group managed without gynecologic oncology involvement had significantly less adequate staging, decreased administration of chemotherapy, and lower survival rates.
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Puls et al. (1997) studied this question.