The clinicopathological characteristics of borderline ovarian tumors at Dr. Soetomo Hospital, Surabaya: a single center study

Background: Borderline ovarian tumors (BOT) are a subset of epithelial neoplasms histologically defined as atypical epithelial proliferation without stromal invasion. BOTs account for 10-20% of ovarian cancer cases. This study aims to know the clinical and pathological characteristics and determine the differences in these characteristics based on age classification. Methods: A 5-year retrospective study was conducted in a single center. Information was obtained from the pathological reports of 53 patients with BOTs between 2016-2021. Statistical analysis was performed using the Student’s t-test with SPSS version 20.0 (SPSS Inc). Continuous data were analyzed using t-tests, and categorical data were tested with Chi-square or Fisher’s exact test to assess differences in clinical and pathological features between the <40 years and the >40 years age groups. Results: Most of the tumor diameters were >10 cm (92.45%) and <10 cm (7.55%). For histopathological description, respectively are MBOT (69.81%), SBOT (24.53%), EBOT (3.77%), and SMBOT (1.89%). There were 29 (45.28%) cases with elevated CA125 levels, and normal levels were 24 (45.283%). Unilateral tumors were 36 (67.92%), and bilateral tumors were 17 cases (32.08%). Serous borderline Ovarian tumor histology was higher in the >40 years group than in the < 40 years group (p<0.05). There was no relationship between cancer antigen (CA) 125 levels and bilaterality, tumor size, or stage (p > 0.05). The mean CA 125 level was higher in the >40 years group (257.92± 64.35) than in the <40 years group (74.42±63.02) (p < 0.05). Conclusion: The median age of BOT was 40 years old and the majority had a large unilateral tumor with mucinous, the most common histologic type. There was a correlation between age, SBOT histologic type, and elevated CA-125.