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Radical Surgery in Ovarian Cancer

  • Gynecologic Cancers (NS Reed, Section Editor)
  • Published:
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Abstract

While there is an ongoing debate regarding the timing of the maximal surgical effort in epithelial ovarian cancer, it is well established that patients with suboptimal tumor debulking derive no benefit from the surgical procedure. The amount of residual disease after cytoreductive surgery has been repeatedly identified as a strong predictor of survival, and accordingly, the surgical effort to achieve the goal of complete gross tumor resection has been constantly evolving. Centers that have adopted the concept of radical surgery in patients with advanced ovarian cancer have reported improvements in their patients’ survival. In addition to the expected improvements in the pharmacologic treatment of this disease, some of the next challenges in the surgical management of ovarian cancer include the preoperative prediction of suboptimal debulking, improving the drug delivery to the tumor, and increasing access to centers of excellence in ovarian cancer regardless of geographical, financial, or other social barriers. This review will discuss an update on the role of surgery in the treatment of primary epithelial ovarian cancer as it has evolved since the emergence of the concept of surgical cytoreduction.

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Conflict of Interest

Deepa Maheswari Narasimhulu, Fady Khoury-Collado, and Dennis S. Chi declare that they have no conflict of interest.

Human and Animal Rights and Informed Consent

This article does not contain any studies with human or animal subjects performed by any of the authors.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Gynecologic Oncology Division, Maimonides Medical Center, Brooklyn, NY, USA

    Deepa Maheswari Narasimhulu & Fady Khoury-Collado

  2. Gynecology Service, Department of Surgery, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, 1275 York Avenue, New York, NY, 10065, USA

    Dennis S. Chi

  3. Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Weill Cornell Medical Center, New York, NY, USA

    Dennis S. Chi

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  1. Deepa Maheswari Narasimhulu
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  2. Fady Khoury-Collado
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  3. Dennis S. Chi
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Correspondence to Dennis S. Chi.

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This article is part of the Topical Collection on Gynecologic Cancers.

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Narasimhulu, D.M., Khoury-Collado, F. & Chi, D.S. Radical Surgery in Ovarian Cancer. Curr Oncol Rep 17, 16 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11912-015-0439-z

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11912-015-0439-z

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