Prediction of optimal debulking surgery in ovarian cancer

The mainstay management of advanced ovarian cancer is maximal cytoreductive surgery followed by chemotherapy. Neoadjuvant chemotherapy (NACT) and interval debulking surgery (IDS) are alternative treatments for patients with comorbidity, poor performance status, and predicted for suboptimal debulking surgery. It is the invariable principle in any situation that no residual disease after the completion of surgery is useful for patients with ovarian cancer. Therefore, the prediction of optimal debulking before the treatment of ovarian cancer is of utmost importance. Many studies have reported on the use of serum biomarkers, such as cancer antigen 125 (CA125) or human epididymis 4 (HE4), and imaging studies, such as computed tomography (CT), diffusion-weighted magnetic resonance imaging (DW-MRI), and positron emission tomography (PET)/CT, to identify adequate surgical candidates for primary debulking surgery (PDS). Laparoscopy has also been studied as a reliable tool for the prediction of optimal debulking. Here, we summarize a review of the related literature.