An Observational Study of Cytopathological Analysis of Peritoneal Washing or Ascitic Fluid in Ovarian Tumor and its Correlation with Histopathological Type and Staging

Ovarian cancer is one of the leading causes of mortality in women. Early detection and prompt management is the key to improve survival rate among the affected. 5 year survival rate for epithelial ovarian cancer is reported to be directly related to surgical stage. The majority of epithelial cancers has an exophytic growth on ovarian surface that provide them a direct contact with peritoneal cavity. Methods of detection of microscopic disease in ovarian cancer are therefore of significant interest and may reduce the mortality rate for this disease by enabling an earlier diagnosis of primary recurrent ovarian cancer. Our study aimed at finding the rate of positivism of malignant cells in ascitic or peritoneal washing fluid, to observe correlation between cytologically positive pelvic peritoneal washing and histological types of ovarian tumor, and to correlate the cytological findings with the FIGO staging of the tumor