[Treatment of advanced ovarian carcinoma: surgery before chemotherapy or chemotherapy before surgery?]

The standard of care for advanced epithelial ovarian carcinoma has been primary surgery aspiring for optimal debulking followed by adjuvant chemotherapy. A significant survival advantage has been demonstrated in women having optimal debulking at primary surgery compared to women having less than optimal debulking at primary surgery. With the advent of efficient chemotherapy for ovarian carcinoma (combination of platinum and taxan), the administration of several courses of chemotherapy before surgery (neoadjuvant chemotherapy) has been established as a method for reducing the intra-abdominal tumor burden and, thereby, increasing the probability of optimal debulking at surgery which is usually performed in the interval between course no. 3 and no. 4 of chemotherapy (interval surgery). Higher rates of optimal debulking, Lower rates of surgical complications, but no differences in survival, have been demonstrated in women having chemotherapy before surgery compared to women having surgery before chemotherapy. Obviously, the method of neoadjuvant chemotherapy is the treatment of choice for women in whom the clinical evaluation indicates that there is no high probability of optimal debulking at primary surgery. Nevertheless, there has been a debate on whether or not the method of neoadjuvant chemotherapy should also be applied for women in whom the clinical evaluation indicates that they are fit for optimal debulking at primary surgery. There is a need for more prospective studies to evaluate the role of neoadjuvant chemotherapy in the treatment of ovarian carcinoma.