Ovarian involvement in adenocarcinoma of the colon and rectum.

Thirty-six of 998 female patients with carcinoma of the colon and rectum had ovarian involvement at the time of the initial operation. Resection of tumor of the colon and rectum was performed upon 882 patients. The ovarian tumors were removed in 30 of the 36 patients with ovarian involvement. Ovarian involvement was associated with a significantly worsened, p = 0.009, cancer specific five year survival rate; five year survival prospects for patients with, and without, ovarian involvement were 38 and 60 per cent, respectively. Ovarian involvement also significantly, p = 0.014, worsened the survival rate of the 25 patients treated by curative resection of the tumor of the colon and rectum and associated ovarian spread. The five year cancer specific survival rate for female patients without ovarian involvement was 72 per cent, whereas ovarian involvement reduced the survival rate to 50 per cent.