Studies of women who underwent conservative treatment for borderline ovarian cancer that reported pregnancy and fertility outcomes were eligible for inclusion. Inclusion criteria for study design were not specified. Case reports, studies with a sample size less than 10 and duplicate publications were excluded.
Most participants in the included studies had serous or mucous malignancies. Women with mixed or other histological subtypes were also included. Most participants had stage 1 or stage 2 disease. Where reported, the mean age of women ranged from 26 years to 35.5 years. Outcomes reported were number of participants pregnant, number of pregnancies achieved, recurrence, recurrence after pregnancy and disease-related death. Studies varied in the way they defined pregnancy outcomes, including number of pregnancies, number of viable deliveries and number of healthy babies delivered. Where stated, the mean follow up of included studies ranged from 26 months to 136 months. All included studies were retrospective.
More than one reviewer was involved in the study selection process, but it was unclear whether the reviewers decisions were made independently.