Secondary surgery in ovarian cancer: A 5-year experience

To evaluate the feasibility and role of secondary surgery in ovarian cancer , a retrospective chart review was conducted on 98 patients treated for ova rian carcinoma at our institution between 1992 and 1996. Overall, 80 surgic al procedures were performed in 68 patients: 4 patients (5%) underwent reas sessment surgery following inappropriate primary surgical procedure; 20 pat ients (25%) in complete or partial response after first-line chemotherapy u nderwent interval debulking surgery; 42 patients (52%) without clinical evi dence of disease at the completion of first-line chemotherapy underwent sec ond-look laparotomy, and 14 of them received some kind of cytoreduction; 14 patients (18%) underwent cytoreductive surgery at the time of recurrent di sease. Secondary surgery in its different forms is feasible in ovarian carc inoma and is associated with a low rate of complications. The proper indica tion for each of the multiple options for secondary surgery in ovarian carc inoma, however, still remains to be elucidated.