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Published on: February 12, 2022
Palliative pelvic exenteration for patients with gynecological malignancies
Gustavo Cardoso Guimarães1, Glauco Baiocchi, Fabio Oliveira Ferreira
1Department of Pelvic Surgery, A. C. Camargo Cancer Hospital, Rua Prof. Antonio Prudente, 211, Liberdade, São Paulo, SP 01509-010, Brazil. guimaraesgc@gmail.com
Purpose:
To evaluate the results of palliative pelvic exenteration in patients with gynecologic tumors.
Methods:
A retrospective analysis was carried out in 13 patients from January 2000 to December 2007. The procedure was considered palliative because of distant metastatic disease or unresectable pelvic wall disease. Patients presented with bleeding, fistula, malodorous discharge or untreatable pain.
Result:
Overall complication rate was 38.4%. Mean follow-up time was 8 months. Actuarial 2 years overall survival was 15.4%. Six patients survived more than 5 months and three more than 12 months. All achieved symptoms control and favorable impact in quality of life. Two patients are with stable disease after 26 and 28 months.
Conclusions:
Palliative exenteration is a procedure with high morbidity and mortality rates and should only be offered to highly selected patients. The role of exenterative surgery in relieving severe symptoms in patients with incurable disease is yet to be established.
