Concomitant Laparoscopic and Thoracoscopic Resection of Recurrent High-Grade Ovarian Cancer

To describe the first case of combined endoscopic management of a thoracic and abdominal recurrence of ovarian cancer.

An instructive video showing the combined thoracic and abdominal surgical procedure.

Department of Gynecological Oncology, Churchill Hospital, Oxford University, UK.

A 64-year-old woman undergoing endoscopic treatment for a third recurrence of ovarian cancer after a full surgical staging in 2007. The disease-free interval from the last recurrence was 31 months.

The operation was performed by a multidisciplinary team of thoracic and gynecologic oncologist surgeons. Surgery started with thoracoscopic resection of a right enlarged paracardiac lymph node of 24 mm and a small wedge of the right lung, which was attached to the lymph node. At laparoscopy, 2 nodules of 3 and 5 mm were excised from the mesosigmoid and 1 nodule of 20 mm was resected from the right hemidiaphragm.

The total operative time was 251 minutes, and no intraoperative complication occurred. No conversion to open surgery was necessary. The estimated blood loss was 50 mL. There was no visible residual disease at the end of the surgery. The patient was discharged 4 days after surgery. The final pathology report confirmed the presence of endometrioid adenocarcinoma in all specimens removed. Adjuvant chemotherapy with carboplatin/paclitaxel was started 2 weeks later. At the 60-day follow-up, no complications were recorded. A computed tomographic scan performed after 6 cycles of chemotherapy did not reveal any evidence of relapse.

The combined endoscopic approach might be feasible in selected patients.