Abstract
OBJECTIVE: To investigate the clinical features, treatment status and identify the prognostic factors of elderly patients with ovarian cancer. METHODS: In this retrospective study, the clinical and survival data of 123 patients with ovarian cancer aged 65 years or older who were treated in Shaanxi Cancer Hospital from June 2019 to June 2023 were collected, and the clinical and prognostic factors were extracted and analyzed. RESULTS: Among the 123 enrolled patients, 51.2% of the elderly patients with ovarian cancer received standard treatment, which includes surgery and chemotherapy with or without maintenance therapy, with no serious postoperative complications. Gene testing during treatment was just conducted in 30.9% of patients. The study found that surgery, standardized treatment, maintenance were linked to improved both PFS and OS, while age was only related to OS and > 71 years old was ignificantly associated with worse OS. Multivariate analysis revealed that both surgery (HR = 0.155, 95%CI 0.05-0.484, P = 0.001) and maintenance treatment (HR = 0.163, 95%CI 0.059-0.447, P < 0.001) are identified as independent prognostic factors for PFS, whereas surgery alone (HR = 0.289, 95%CI 0.107-0.78, P = 0.014) emerged as an independent prognostic factor for OS. CONCLUSIONS: Our real-world study demonstrates that just a small number of elderly patients with ovarian cancer received standard treatment and gene testing during treatment;those patients who accepted surgery, standardized treatment and maintenance had a better PFS and OS; the prognosis is even worse for patients who are older than 71;surgery and maintenance treatment are identified as independent prognostic factors for PFS, whereas surgery alone emerged as an independent prognostic factor for OS.While these findings provide valuable insights, it is important to note that this was a single-center retrospective analysis, and further validation in larger, prospective cohorts is warranted.