Clinico-pathological correlates in ovarian cancer.

Multivariate analysis was performed on prognostic data derived from 810 patients with invasive ovarian cancer treated between 1971 and 1978. An examination of the prognostic significance of grade and pathologic subtype revealed that grade was strongly prognostic for serous tumors. In mucinous and endometrioid tumors however, the effect of grade was quite weak; furthermore, the prognostic significance of mucinous and endometrioid tumors did not differ from each other and was intermediate between well and poorly (or moderately) differentiated serous tumors. The compound pathology-grade classification derived from this analysis as well as the amount of macroscopic tumor residuum and the anatomic stage, were shown to exert a powerful prognostic effect independent of each other. Combining the information derived from all of these variables permits enhanced treatment selection to a degree which is not possible when each factor is considered on its own.