Secondary cytoreduction in recurrent ovarian cancer- experience from a tertiary care centre in India

Ovarian cancer is a disease that presents in advanced stage, due to the absence of any specific or overtly dramatic symptoms. The standard of care is primary debulking surgery, followed by chemotherapy. Ovarian cancer recurrence treatment is very challenging and there is always a debate between cytoreduction vs chemotherapy.

The electronic medical records of all patients who underwent secondary cytoreductive surgery for recurrent ovarian cancer between January 2011 and December 2019 were retrieved the patients with platinum sensitive recurrent ovarian cancer who underwent secondary cytoreductive surgery in our department during this time period were included.

A total of 52 patients underwent secondary cytoreductive surgery for recurrent ovarian cancer during the study period. Median treatment free interval after primary treatment was 20 months (range 6-132). The secondary cytoreductive surgery was highly complex in 4(8 %) patients,19 (37 %) had intermediate surgical complexity score, 29 (55 %) had low surgical complexity score according to the Aletti complexity score. Secondary cytoreductive surgery was complete (no macroscopic residual disease) in 31(60 %); Optimal (R1) in 17 (33 %) and suboptimal in only 4 (7 %) of the patients. Out of the 52 patients,8 expired, 16 had a second recurrence, and 10 were lost to follow up over time.

Successful surgery is possible in well selected patients, which in turn can lead to a meaningful progression free and overall survival benefit. Meticulous individualisation of cases should be done keeping in mind the patient's performance status, prior treatment history & toxicity; distribution & extent of disease, and the patient's overall life goals.