Carcinosarcoma of the ovary: analysis of 13 cases and review of the literature.

OBJECTIVES

The aim of this study was to evaluate our experience with patients affected by ovarian carcinosarcoma.

PATIENTS AND METHODS

During a 16-year period, data on 13 patients with ovarian carcinosarcoma were collected. They were obtained from hospital charts and follow-up visits. Survival curves were estimated by the Kaplan-Meier method and compared using the log-rank test. All tests were two-tailed with p values < 0.05 considered significant.

RESULTS

Our study was conducted on 13 patients with ovarian carcinosarcoma referred to our unit, during an observation time of about 16 years (March 1994 to October 2010). An improved survival was observed in patients treated with optimal cytoreductive surgery with residual tumors <2 cm (30 vs. 5 months; p = 0.042). All patients underwent adjuvant chemotherapy based on the combination of cisplatin, epirubicin and ifosfamide (PEI) and taxol and carboplatin (TAX-CBDCA) regimen. Overall survival of the patient population was 17 months.

CONCLUSIONS

Similarly to data published in the literature, we observed that malignant mixed mullerian ovarian tumors are very aggressive and are usually diagnosed at an advanced age and at an advanced stage of disease. Therefore, due to the rarity of the tumor we would like to add our series to those already published in the literature, although our treatment recommendations are actually based upon retrospective studies with a small patient population.