Malignant Bowel Obstruction in Relapsed Ovarian Cancer With Peritoneal Carcinomatosis: An Occlusive State

The aim of this study was to describe the clinical and oncological outcomes of women with malignant bowel obstruction (MBO) for relapsed ovarian cancer and peritoneal carcinomatosis.

A retrospective cohort study was performed in all consecutive patients admitted at Instituto Valenciano de Oncología, Valencia, Spain, between July 2013 and July 2016 with MBO for relapsed ovarian cancer and peritoneal carcinomatosis. All patients underwent the same protocol of conservative management. Surgical treatment was indicated only in selected cases.

There were a total of 22 patients presenting 59 episodes of MBO; 17 (77.2%) of those patients presented more than 1 episode of MBO. All patients had serous epithelial ovarian cancer; 18 (81.8%) were high grade, and 4 (18.2%) low-grade tumors. The median (range) number of episodes per patient was 3 (range, 1-7) with a mean length of hospitalization of 13 (SD, 13.6) days. The median time interval between episodes of MBO (54 episodes in 17 patients) was 17 days (range, 1-727 days). Twenty of 22 patients died with a median overall survival time from the first episode of MBO of 95 days (95% confidence interval, 49-124 days).

Patients with MBO due to relapsed epithelial ovarian cancer in the peritoneal carcinomatosis setting have a short life expectancy, presenting a median of 3 episodes of MBO until death, with a short time interval between episodes. These findings show that bowel obstruction can represent a constant status over time until death.