[Technique and preliminary results in second-look laparoscopy in epithelial malignant ovarian tumors]

Second-look laparotomy is the usual mean of intraperitoneal evaluation in patients treated for ovarian carcinoma. We present a preliminary study of 33 second-look. Thirteen of these procedures were performed by laparoscopy. Because of previous surgical history a specific technique is necessary including safety tests, cytologic evaluation after peritoneal washing, and biopsies of any abnormal peritoneal areas, original tumors sites and normal appearing peritoneum. In order to achieve the evaluation of the entire peritoneal cavity a complete bowel adhesiolysis is required. For trained laparoscopists the surgical complication rate is low. In this preliminary study we found that prognosis following negative second-look laparoscopy and second-look laparotomy are similar, suggesting that laparoscopy is a valuable alternative to laparotomy for second-look evaluation in ovarian cancer.