[Complications of radical surgery for advanced ovarian cancer]

Treatment of advanced ovarian cancer should include surgery with optimal cytoreduction, which is the first prognosis factor. This surgery usually requires extensive resection (pelvic surgery, extensive lymphadenectomy, upper abdominal surgery and sometimes multiple intestinal resection). The complete surgery usually requires a resection of the diaphragm peritoneum in 10 to 100% of cases, intestinal resection in 20 to 100% of cases, splenectomy in 1 to 33% of cases, pancreatectomy in 0 11% of cases, resection of liver metastases in 0 to 16% of cases and cholecystectomy in 2 to 20% of cases. The main complications reported were digestive fistula (1.4 to 8.2%), lymphocyst (0.6 to 32%), septic complications (3.7 to 41.4%) and pulmonary complications (0 to 59%) in case of diaphragmatic surgery. The postoperative mortality ranges from 0.3 to 5.7%. Radical surgery increases the rate of complete cytoreduction with significant morbidity and postoperative mortality. Because these complications decrease survival, it is essential to assess the risk of occurrence of these events to inform patients.