Significance of lymph node sampling in epithelial carcinoma of the ovary.

From 1979 to 1984, 127 patients operated on for ovarian cancer underwent pelvic, para-aortic, or pelvic and para-aortic lymph node sampling. Forty-seven patients proved to be stage I(14 IA and 33 IC), 14 were stage II(3 IIA, 8 IIB, and 3 IIC), 58 were stage III (7 IIIA, 13 IIIB, and 38 IIIC), and 8 were stage IV. Positive lymph nodes were found in 4.