Use of peritoneoscopy for initial staging and posttherapy evaluation of patients with ovarian carcinoma

Forty patients with ovarian adenocarcinoma had peritoneoscopy within 1 month of their exploratory laparotomy as part of their pretreatment evaluation. Of 12 patients (58%) believed to have disease localized to the pelvis (stage 1 or II) at laparotomy staging 7 were found to have more advanced disease (stage III) at peritoneoscopy and thus required a change in therapy. Involvement of the diaphragm with metastatic ovarian carcinoma was found in 63% of all patients. This finding again necessitated a change in therapy, since the right hemidiaphragm is shielded along with the liver when abdominal radiotherapy is used. Peritoneoscopy supplied the only followable findings with which to gauge response to therapy in 40% of the patients and also supplied followable findings in 78% of all patients studied. Second-look peritoneoscopy was performed in all patients achieving an apparent clinical remission with chemotherapy. Active disease was found in 43% of these patients, which thus precluded the need for laparotomy.