The lymphatic spread of ovarian germinal and stromal tumors.

This paper reports the results of lymphography in germinal and stromal tumors of the ovary. The group of patients is made up of 30 cases of germ cell tumors (70% dysgerminomas) and 29 cases of stromal tumors (62% granulosa cell tumors). The overall incidence of metastases was 29%; 37% in germ cell and 21% in stromal tumors. There was bilateral involvement in 41% of the patients with metastases. The para-aortic region alone was involved in 23%, the iliac alone in 18% and both the regions were simultaneously involved in 59%. In 17/30 operated patients (57%) retroperitoneal node biopsies were performed and diagnostic accuracy was 9/10 in the radiographically positive and 6/7 in the negative cases.