Do all patients that undergo a ‘complete’ secondary cytoreductive surgery for platinum-sensitive recurrent ovarian cancer, benefit from it?

Abstract

– Selection criteria used in all three randomized trials are predictive of a complete cytoreduction and not the benefit of surgery– Post-hoc & prespecified subgroup analyses indicate that not all patients undergoing secondary cytoreduction benefit from it– Post-hoc and sub-group analysis should be performed separately for patients undergoing a complete gross resection– Impact of incomplete cytoreduction on quality of life and subsequent therapy needs further evaluation– Future randomized trials should use surgical prognostic factors like disease sites and extent as stratification factors

Keywords

• recurrent ovarian cancer
• platinum-sensitive recurrence
• secondary cytoreductive surgery
• patient selection