[Benefit of palliative surgery for bowel obstruction in recurrent ovarian carcinoma]

Abstract

Objective: Intestinal obstruction is a frequent sequela of recurrent ovarian cancer and difficult to deal with. We analyzed a series of such patients to determine if their outcomes have changed after undergoing palliative surgery.

Method: We retrospectively reviewed 67 patients undergoing surgery for intestinal obstruction due to recurrent ovarian carcinoma and 75 patients receiving non-surgical treatment from 1997 to 2002.

Results: During the study period, 67 operations were performed on 67 patients. Among them, surgical procedure was completed in 58 cases. Successful palliation was achieved in 64.2% of cases in which surgical correction was possible. The median survival of the entire cohort was 7.8 months, and 12.6 months for the surgically successfully relieved patients and 3.7 months for those non-surgical patients. The rate of major surgical morbidities was 22.4%. The perioperative mortality rate was 6.0%. Successful palliation was associated with the absence of two prognostic factors: multiple obstructive sites and palpable abdominal and pelvic masses.

Conclusion: Palliative surgery for bowel obstruction in recurrent ovarian cancer can be worthwhile, and properly selected patients are the key to its success.