The surgical outcomes and perioperative complications of bowel resection as part of debulking surgery of advanced ovarian cancer patients

Abstract Background To review the utilization of bowel resection in ovarian cancer surgery in our institution. Methods All ovarian cancer patients who received bowel resection between 2006/01 and 2018/12 were identified. Postoperative morbidities were assessed according to the Clavien–Dindo classification (CDC). Results There were 182 patients in the anastomosis group and 100 patients in the ostomy group, yielding a total of 282 patients. The median age was 57 years, and most patients had high-grade serous histology (88.7%). Forty-nine (17.3%) patients received neoadjuvant chemotherapy. During the operation, 78.7% of patients had ascites, and the median volume was 800 mL. Extensive bowel resection (at least two-segment) and upper abdominal operation were performed in 29 (10.2%) and 69 (24.4%) patients, respectively. The rectosigmoid colon was the most commonly resected (83.8%) followed by right hemicolectomy (5.9%) and small bowel resection (2.8%). No macroscopic residual disease was observed in 42.9% of the patients, whereas 87.9% had residual disease ≤ 1 cm. Among the entire cohort, 23.0% (65/282) experienced different complications. Severe complications (CDC 3–5) accounted for 9.2% of complications and were mostly categorized as pleural effusion requiring drainage (3.5%) followed by wound dehiscence requiring delayed repair in the operating room (1.8%). Nine patients experienced anastomotic leakage (AL): one in the ostomy group with extensive bowel resection and eight in the anastomosis group. The overall AL rate was 4.2% (9/212) per anastomosis. Conclusions The execution of bowel resection as part of debulking surgery in patients with newly diagnosed ovarian cancer resulted in a severe morbidity rate of 9.2%.