Cytoreductive Surgery Plus HIPEC in Recurrent or Newly Diagnosed Advanced Epithelial Ovarian Cancer: a Meta-analysis

In 2024, two randomized controlled trials (RCTs) were published, providing new high-quality evidence on HIPEC in epithelial ovarian cancer (EOC). Updating data on progression-free survival (PFS) and adverse events could offer a clearer understanding of the benefits and risks of HIPEC combined with cytoreductive surgery (CRS), with or without prior neoadjuvant chemotherapy (NACT).

An electronic search was conducted using PubMed, Web of Science, EBSCO, and CENTRAL up to 23 November 2024. We only included RCTs reporting PFS and adverse events of interval or secondary CRS, with or without HIPEC, in newly diagnosed or recurrent EOC.

The meta-analysis included six RCTs. The addition of HIPEC to surgery significantly improved PFS in patients with newly diagnosed advanced-stage EOC who received NACT (HR 0.59; 95% CI 0.39-0.88; p = 0.01). No significant difference in PFS was observed between secondary CRS plus HIPEC and CRS alone in recurrent ovarian cancer without prior NACT (HR 1.22; 95% CI 0.82-1.83; p = 0.32). Regarding adverse events, a decrease in platelet count of any grade was more frequent in the HIPEC group (p = 0.03). The overall risk of acute kidney failure (AKF) was 10.6%, with a significantly higher incidence compared with CRS alone (p = 0.003).

The addition of HIPEC to CRS significantly improved PFS compared with surgery alone in patients with advanced EOC who received NACT. However, the treatment was associated with a higher incidence of AKF, which occurred in 10.6% of patients who underwent HIPEC.