Surgical Complexity Impact on Survival After Complete Cytoreductive Surgery for Advanced Ovarian Cancer

The direct relationship between surgical radicality to compensate biologic behavior and improvement of patient outcome at the time of primary or interval cytoreduction remains unclear.

The aim of this study was to evaluate the impact of disease extension and surgical complexity on survival after complete macroscopic resection for stage IIIC-IV ovarian cancer.

Medical records from seven referral centers in France were reviewed to identify all patients who had complete cytoreductive surgery for stage IIIC-IV epithelial ovarian, fallopian, or primary peritoneal cancer. All patients had at least six cycles of carboplatin and paclitaxel combination therapy.

From the 374 consecutive patients with complete cytoreduction who were included in this study, stage, grade, upper abdominal disease, surgical complexity, and carcinomatosis extent were significantly associated with disease-free survival (DFS) at univariate analysis. Stage IV and the need for ultra-radical procedures were significantly associated with lower overall survival (OS). On multivariate analysis, radical surgery, including more than two visceral resections, was significantly associated with decreased DFS and OS.

Patients who need complex surgical procedures involving two or more visceral resections in order to achieve successful complete cytoreduction have worse outcome than patients with less extensive procedures. The negative impact of surgical complexity was not significant in patients who underwent upfront procedures. Tumor volume and extension were associated with decreased DFS in patients undergoing a primary surgical approach. This adds to the evidence that, even though complete cytoreduction is currently the objective of surgery, tumor load remains an independent poor prognostic factor and probably reflects a more aggressive behavior.