A population-based survey of ovarian malignancies in the southeast health care region of Sweden 1984-1987.

All 426 patients with ovarian malignancies registered in the population-based Tumor Registry of the Southeast region of Sweden during 1984 to 1987 were analyzed by survey of the hospital records and population registry data. After comparison with other population-based materials, it seems that the overall survival figures have improved in ovarian cancer. Excluding patients diagnosed at autopsy a 5-year corrected survival of 43% was recorded. Among patients aged under 45 years the corrected 5-year survival was 72%. In a Cox's regression analysis age and stage were significant predictors of cancer death while histology (epithelial vs. non-epithelial), although significant in the univariate analysis, did not add prognostic information in the multivariate model. The relative cancer death rate was 6.4 for patients aged over 74 years compared with those aged under 45 (p < 0.0001), and 13.8 for FIGO stage IV compared to stage I (p < 0.0001). For patients with advanced stage tumors (FIGO stage III or IV) postoperative residual tumor, stage, and age were independent prognostic factors in a multivariate analysis. The corrected cancer death rate was 2.0 for patients with > 1 cm relative to < or = 1 cm postoperative residual tumor nodule(s) (p < 0.0001).