Primary cytoreductive surgery for advanced ovarian cancer: is it the past, present, or future?

Ovarian cancer accounts for more deaths in the United States than all other gynecologic malignancies combined. This is largely due to the fact that no effective screening test has been identified thus far to facilitate early detection. As a result, two-thirds of women continue to be diagnosed with advanced stage III or IV disease. Historically, the standard of care has consisted of primary cytoreductive surgery-with an operative goal of achieving an optimal result with minimal residual disease-followed by adjuvant, platinum-based chemotherapy. However, data suggesting comparable efficacy of neoadjuvant chemotherapy and interval debulking has recently challenged this conventional dogma. The current decision-making on how to initially treat women with newly diagnosed advanced ovarian cancer has become increasingly controversial. This article focuses on whether primary cytoreductive surgery should remain the preferred method of management, or whether it is time for it to be superseded by neoadjuvant chemotherapy.