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Background: Patients with unresectable disease during cytoreductive surgery (CRS) for advanced-stage ovarian cancer are underreported. Knowledge of treatment and survival after surgery is limited. The aim of this study is to address the knowledge gap about postoperative treatment and survival of patients whose surgery was abandoned due to unresectability after abdominal exploration. Methods: Women with FIGO stage IIIB-IV epithelial ovarian cancer whose disease was considered to be unresectable during surgery were included in this prospective study, a post hoc analysis of the PlaComOv study. The unresectable disease was defined as the inability to achieve at least suboptimal CRS without attempted CRS after careful inspection of the entire abdomen. Preoperative clinical data, perioperative findings, postoperative treatment and survival data were analyzed. Results: From 2018 to 2020, 27 patients were included in this analysis. Treatment ranged from the cessation of treatment to one or several lines of chemotherapy with or without maintenance therapy. The median overall survival was 16 (IQR 5–21) months (95%CI 14–18). At 24 months of follow-up, four patients (15%) were alive. Conclusions: This study indicated a two-year survival of 15%. Optimal treatment strategies in terms of survival benefits are still ill-defined. Further study of this specific group of patients is warranted. We advocate an (inter)national registry of patients with unresectable cancer and comprehensive follow-up.

Objective: Advances in ovarian cancer cytoreductive surgery have enabled more extensive procedures to achieve maximal cytoreduction but with a consequent increase in postoperative morbidity and mortality. The aim of this study was to evaluate factors for postoperative morbidity after extensive cytoreductive surgery for primary epithelial ovarian cancer (EOC), particularly those which may be modifiable. Methods: Electronic databases were searched. Meta-analysis was conducted using random-effects models. Results: Fifteen relevant studies, involving 15,325 ovarian cancer patients, were included in this review. Severe 30-day postoperative complications occurred in 2,357 (15.4%) patients. The postoperative mortality rate was 1.92%. Meta-analysis demonstrated that patient with following risk factors; age (p<0.001), Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group score >0 (p=0.001), albumin level <3.5 g/dL (p<0.001), presence of ascites on CT scan (p=0.013), stage IV disease (p<0.001) and extensive surgical procedure (p<0.001) has a significantly increase risk of developing postoperative complications. Surgical procedures including peritonectomy (p=0.012), splenectomy (p<0.001) and colon surgery (p<0.001) were significant predictors for postoperative complications. Moreover, we found that patients who received neoadjuvant chemotherapy followed by interval debulking surgery (NACT-IDS) had a lower risk of developing severe complications compared to those who underwent primary debulking surgery (PDS) (p<0.001). Conclusion: Our study demonstrated that patient performance status and hypoalbuminemia were the only significant adjustable preoperative risk factors associated with postoperative complications. Patients who underwent NACT-IDS had a lower risk of developing severe complications compared to PDS. Trial Registration: International Prospective Register of Systematic Reviews (PROSPERO) Identifier: CRD42021282770.

Objective: The aim of this study was to evaluate factors associated with 30-day postoperative Clavien–Dindo classification (CDC) grade IIIa or greater complications and delayed initiation of chemotherapy after cytoreductive surgery (CRS) for primary advanced-stage epithelial ovarian cancer (AEOC). Methods: This was a prospective study involving 300 patients who underwent primary or interval CRS for AEOC between February 2018 and September 2020. Postoperative complications were graded according to the CDC. Logistic regression analysis was used to evaluate factors predicting CDC grade ≥IIIa and time to chemotherapy (TTC) >42 days. Results: Interval CRS was performed in 255 (85%) patients. CDC grade ≥IIIa occurred in 51 (17%) patients. In multivariable analysis, age (p = 0.036), cardiovascular comorbidity (p < 0.001), diaphragmatic surgery (p < 0.001), intraoperative urinary tract injury (p = 0.017), and upper-abdominal visceral injury (e.g., pancreas, stomach, liver, or spleen) (p = 0.012) were associated with CDC grade ≥IIIa. In 26% of cases, TTC was >42 days (median (IQR) 39 (29–50) days) in patients with CDC grade ≥IIIa versus 33 (25–41) days in patients without CDC grade ≥ IIIa (p = 0.008). The adjusted odds ratio of developing TTC >42 days was significantly higher in patients associated with WHO performance grade ≥2 (p = 0.045), intraoperative bowel injury (p = 0.043), upper-abdominal visceral injury (p = 0.008), and postoperative CDC grade ≥IIIa (p = 0.032). Conclusions: Patients with advanced age, with cardiovascular comorbidity, and who required diaphragmatic surgery had an increased adjusted odds ratio of developing CDC grade ≥IIIa complications. CDC grade ≥IIIa complications were independently associated with TTC >42 days. Proper patient selection and prevention of intraoperative injury are essential in order to prevent postoperative complications and delayed initiation of chemotherapy.

Background: The tumor marker ‘cancer antigen 125’ (CA-125) plays a role in the management of women with advanced stage ovarian cancer. This study aims to describe the predictive value of pre-treatment CA-125 level and the reduction after neoadjuvant chemotherapy (NACT) on surgical outcome. Methods: A systematic review and a prospective clinical study were performed. Multiple databases were searched from database inception to April 2022. The clinical study is part of a randomized controlled trial named “PlaComOv-study”. A regression analysis was performed to demonstrate correlations between preoperative CA-125 levels, CA-125 reduction after NACT, and surgical outcome. Results: Fourteen relevant articles were analyzed of which eleven reported that lower preoperative CA-125 levels were associated with a higher probability of complete cytoreduction. In the clinical study, 326 patients with FIGO stage IIIB-IV ovarian cancer who underwent CRS were enrolled from 2018 to 2020. Patients who underwent interval CRS with preoperative CA-125 levels ≤35 kU/L had higher odds of achieving complete CRS than patients with CA-125 level >35 kU/L (85% vs. 67%, OR 2.79, 95%CI 1.44–5.41, p = 0.002). In multivariable analysis with presence of ascites and peritoneal carcinomatosis, normalized preoperative CA-125 did not appear as a significant predictor for complete CRS. Conclusions: In literature, preoperative CA-125 levels ≤35 kU/L were associated with a significant higher percentage of complete CRS in univariable analysis. According to our cohort study, preoperative CA-125 level ≤35 kU/L cannot independently predict surgical outcome either for primary or interval CRS.

Purpose: To evaluate the clinical outcomes of enlarged cardiophrenic lymph node (CPLN) in advanced-stage epithelial ovarian cancer (AEOC) patients who underwent cytoreductive sur-gery. Methods: The Embase, Medline, Web of Science, Cochrane Library, and Google Scholar data-bases were searched for articles from the database inception to June 2021. Meta-analysis was conducted to determine the prognostic impact of surgical outcome, postoperative complication, and survival using random-effects models. Results: A total of 15 studies involving 727 patients with CPLN adenopathy and 981 patients without CPLN adenopathy were included. The mean size of preoperative CPLN was 9.1± 3.75 mm. Overall, 82 percent of the resected CPLN were histologically confirmed pathologic nodes. Surgical outcomes and perioperative complications did not differ between both groups. The median OS time was 42.7 months (95% CI 10.8–74.6) versus 47.3 months (95% CI 23.2–71.2), in patients with and without CPLN adenopathy, respectively. At 5 years, patients with CPLN adenopathy had a significantly increased risk of disease recurrence (HR 2.14, 95% CI 1.82–2.52, p < 0.001) and dying from the disease (HR 1.74, 95% CI 1.06–2.86, p = 0.029), compared with those without CPLN adenopathy. CPLN adenopathy was significantly associated with ascites (OR 3.30, 95% CI 1.90–5.72, p < 0.001), pleural metastasis (OR 2.58, 95% CI 1.37–4.82, p = 0.003), abdominal adenopathy (OR 2.30, 95% CI 1.53–3.46, p < 0.001) and extra-abdominal metastasis (OR 2.30, 95% CI 1.61–6.67, p = 0.001). Conclusions: Enlarged CPLN in preoperative imaging is highly associated with metastatic involvement. Patients with CPLN adenopathy had a lower survival rate, compared with patients without CPLN adenopathy. Further randomized controlled trials should be conducted to definitively demonstrate whether CPLN resection at the time of cytoreductive surgery is beneficial.