Abstract

THE NEED FOR A MULTIDISCIPLINARY APPROACH IN SURGICAL TREATMENT OF FEMALE GENITAL CANCERS – A RETROSPECTIVE STUDY

Stefan Miladinov Kovachev*

Abstract

Objective: This study aimed to determine the frequency and need of a multidisciplinary approach (team) in contemporary radical surgical treatment of gynecological cancers in the absence of a relevant legal oncogynecology specialty. Methods: In this retrospective, singlecenter survey conducted at the Department of Gynecology and Oncogynecology of the Military Medical Academy, Sofia, covering the period 2013-2018, we included 768 patients aged 33-82 years, divided into two groups: Group I-384 patients with histologically proven malignant diseases of the uterus, cervix, and ovary; and Group II (control)-384 patients with benign diseases of the uterus and ovary, selected at random from all patients coming for surgical treatment in that period. Disease history and operating protocols were extracted from the electronic database. All statisticl analyses were performed with SPSS 10.1 for windows (SPSS Inc., Chicago IL). Results: All Group I patients were distributed according to the disease: endometrial cancer (167/21.7%), cervical cancer (98/12.8%) with ovarian cancer (119/15.5%). Group II had the following distribution: myoma disease (256/33.3%) and ovarian benign tumor (128/16.7%). In 33/4.5% of patients in Group I and 6/0.75% of cases in Group II, a multidisciplinary surgical team was formed. Patients with genital cance had a significant need (P < 0.05) for a multitask surgical team for treatment, compared to those with benign diseases. Conclusions: In the absence of a relevant legal oncogynecology specialty and clinical-medical framework, a multidisciplinary team is the possible alternative for the adequate treatment of patients with female genital cancers.

Keywords: Cancer, genital, female, multidisciplinary team, oncogynecology.