Prognostic impact of the time interval from primary surgery to intravenous chemotherapy in high grade serous ovarian cancer

Abstract

Objective: The aim of our study was to investigate the prognostic influence of time to chemotherapy (TTC) in patients with high grade serous ovarian cancer (HGSC).

Methods: We retrospectively investigated 625 consecutive patients with HGSC who underwent primary staging or debulking surgery followed by platinum-based intravenous chemotherapy between April 2005 and June 2013 in our center. TTC was defined as the time interval between primary surgery and initiation of chemotherapy.

Results: The median (range) TTC was 15 (4-62) days. TTC was longer for patients who underwent bowel resection (p<0.001). There were no differences in PFS and OS between patients initiating chemotherapy before and after 15days (p=0.604 and 0.826, respectively) or among 4 groups categorized by quartile values (<10days, 10-14days, 15-20days, or ≥21days after surgery) (p=0.471 and 0.516, respectively). When stratified by with and without residual disease, there were still no differences in PFS (p=0.592 and 0.755, respectively) and OS (p=0.962 and 0.640, respectively) between patients initiating chemotherapy before and after 15days. In multivariate analyses, TTC was also not associated with PFS and OS categorized by median (p=0.570 and 0.701, respectively), quartile values (p=0.432, 0.194, 0.737 and 0.799, 0.290, 0.743, respectively) or integrated as a continuous variable (p=0.550 and 0.430, respectively).

Conclusion: The time interval between surgery and chemotherapy seemed to have no prognostic impact on patients with HGSC within 6weeks.

Keywords: Ovarian cancer; Time to chemotherapy.