• A Gadducci, P Iacconi, A Fanucchi, S Cosio, G Teti, and A R Genazzani.
• Department of Procreative Medicine, University of Pisa, Italy. a.gadducci@obgyn.med.unipi.it
• Anticancer Res. 2000 May 1; 20 (3B): 1959-64.

BackgroundThe impact of surgical cytoreduction performed during second-look on the survival of patients with advanced ovarian cancer is still under debate.Materials And MethodsThe present retrospective investigation assessed 81 patients with advanced ovarian cancer who underwent second-look laparotomy after initial cytoreductive surgery and six cycles of platinum-based chemotherapy.ResultsAt the beginning of the second-look, 31 patients were in pathological complete response, 7 had microscopic residual disease, 22 had macroscopic residual disease < 2 cm and 21 had a larger residuum. Twenty-two (51.2%) of the 43 patients with macroscopic disease underwent surgical cytoreduction during the second-look: 11 patients were completely cytoreduced, whereas 11 were debulked from residuum > 2 cm to macroscopic residuum < 2 cm. Patients with microscopic residual disease after the second-look had improved survival when compared to those with macroscopic residuum after re-exploration (median survival, 43 months versus 19.5 months, p = 0.002). Among the former, no difference in survival was detected between the patients who had microscopic disease at the beginning of the second-look and those who were surgically cytoreduced to microscopic disease. Moreover, the patients with macroscopic residuum < 2 cm after the second-look had a better survival than those with a larger residuum after re-exploration (median survival, 24 months versus 10 months, p = 0.0001). Among the former, no difference in survival was seen between the patients who had residual disease < 2 cm at the beginning of the second-look and those who were surgically cytoreduced to < 2 cm. However, ovarian cancer recurred in all the patients with small or large macroscopic residuum after the second-look.ConclusionThe complete resection of macroscopic persistent tumor seems to give ovarian cancer patients the highest likelihood of long-term survival and should represent the goal of surgical cytoreduction during second-look laparotomy.

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