Background. In order to analyze the prognostic role of node involvement in advanced ovarian cancer, we have analyzed data from a randomized clinical trial on advanced ovarian cancer. Methods. Cases were 456 women who entered a randomized multicentric clinical trial comparing two cisplatin-based schemes of treatment after cytoreductive surgery for advanced stage III–IV ovarian cancer. They underwent selective pelvic and/or paraortic lymphadenectomy. Results. A total of 161 (35.3%) cases had positive nodes. The frequency of positive nodes was statistically significantly higher in FIGO stage IV than in stage III. Also grade 3 tumors were more likely to have positive nodes than grade 1–2 tumors. No association was observed between nodal status and response to chemotherapy. The 3-year survival was 46.2 (standard error (SE) 5 3.4 based on 147 deaths) and 44.6 (SE 5 4.4, based on 84 deaths), respectively, in negative and positive node groups. The corresponding values, when the analysis was performed considering only subjects with residual tumor <1 cm or absent, after first-line cytoreductive surgery were 66.2 (SE 5 5.7) and 62.4 (SE 5 9.6). Conclusions. We did not find any association between nodal status and survival. Particularly, nodal status was not a prognostic factor for survival in the subgroup of women with residual tumor <1 cm or absent after cytoreductive surgery.