EXPERIENCE WITH PRIMARY, SEROUS PAPILLARY CARCINOMA OF THE PERITONEUM

A total of fourteen patients with primary papillary serous carcinoma of the peritoneum (PPSCP) were treated at the Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology of the University of Graz between 1980 and 1991. The presence of tumours from other sites, particularly the pancreas and the ovary, had been excluded. Due to extensive spreading of the disease mainly in the upper abdomen, only seven of the 14 patients underwent exploratory laparotomy. The median overall survival time was 10 months (range, 1-28 months). These results are due to the extent of spreading of the disease at diagnosis, and also to the fact, that optimal cytoreductive surgery was possible only in four of the 14 patients. The four patients with optimal cytoreduction showed a better survival than those, who underwent less radical surgery. These results seem to indicate, that, as in primary ovarian cancer, the amount of residual disease may be an important prognostic determining factor in PPSCP.