Routine use of prophylactic antibiotics, prophylactic subcutaneous heparin, and intensive postoperative monitoring appear to have reduced morbidity from pelvic exenteration.

Paclitaxel and cisplatin may be effective in treating primary squamous cell carcinoma of the ovary.

The purpose of this study was to determine if tumor estrogen receptor (ER) or progesterone receptor (PR) status were significant prognostic variables of survival and progression-free survival among patients with International Federation of Gynecology and Obstetrics (FIGO) stage III and IV epithelial ovarian cancer. Tumor steroid receptor status was evaluated among 67 consecutive patients who underwent primary surgery from June 1983 through September 1990. Characteristics of receptor-negative and receptor-positive populations were compared by chi-square analysis. Univariate and multivariate analyses were used to identify variables prognostic of survival and progression-free survival. Fifty-one of 67 patients (76.1%) had ER-positive tumors and 31 (46.3%) patients had PR-positive tumors. Significant differences between receptor-positive and receptor-negative populations were not observed. Neither univariate nor multivariate analysis identified ER or PR status as significant prognostic variables of survival (p = 0.93 and p = 0.06, respectively). Progesterone receptor-positive status was a significant prognostic variable of progression-free survival in both univariate (p = 0.03) and multivariate (p = 0.04) analyses even after adjustment for residual disease and patient age. Estrogen receptor status was not a significant prognostic indicator of progression-free survival in either univariate or multivariate analyses. Progesterone receptor-positive tumor status is shown to be an independent prognostic variable of improved progression-free survival among patients with advanced epithelial ovarian cancer.

A significant association between the use of HRT and the risk of developing epithelial ovarian cancer, even with prolonged exposure, is not demonstrable.

A case of vulvar carcinoma with 0.5 mm of invasion treated by radical wide local excision only, which later developed ipsilateral inguinal lymph node recurrence, is presented. This represents the least amount of invasion reported resulting in inguinal lymph node metastasis. Review of the literature of stage I vulvar carcinoma with less than 1 mm of invasion indicates that this phenomenon occurs in only 1.6% of all patients who have undergone inguinal lymphadenectomy. Although this represents the second report of ipsilateral inguinal nodal metastasis associated with less than 1 mm of invasion, we continue to perform radical wide local excision without ipsilateral inguinal lymphadenectomy until more cases demonstrate a higher incidence of lymph node involvement.