Staging discordance in apparent early-stage ovarian neoplasms: prevalence, prognosis, and practical risk stratification
Up to 1 in 13 patients with apparent early-stage ovarian neoplasms harbor occult advanced disease, posing a diagnostic dilemma with major therapeutic implications that remains poorly characterized. We conducted a retrospective consecutive cohort study of 106 patients with apparent early-stage ovarian neoplasms at a tertiary gynecological oncology center (2014-2023) to determine the prevalence, consequences, and clinical correlates of staging discordance and develop the first descriptive risk stratification for surgical planning. Staging discordance occurred in 8/106 patients (7.5%), all of whom were upstaged to Stage III disease. All malignant cases (5/106, 4.7%) were discordant, demonstrating universally advanced disease requiring chemotherapy (100% vs. 1.0% concordant,