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Original research
Use of ablation and ultrasonic aspiration at primary debulking surgery in advanced stage ovarian, fallopian tube, and primary peritoneal cancer
  1. Sue Li1,2,
  2. Beryl Manning-Geist1,2,
  3. Allison Gockley1,3,
  4. Amanda Ramos2,
  5. Rachel C. Sisodia2,
  6. Marcela Del Carmen2,
  7. Whitfield B Growdon2,
  8. Neil Horowitz1,3,
  9. Ross Berkowitz1,3 and
  10. Michael Worley Jr1,3
  1. 1Division of Gynecologic Oncology, Department of Obstetrics, Gynecology and Reproductive Biology, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA
  2. 2Division of Gynecologic Oncology, Vincent Obstetrics and Gynecology, Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA
  3. 3Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Boston, MA, USA
  1. Correspondence to Dr Sue Li, Department of Obstetrics, Gynecology, and Reproductive Biology, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Boston, MA 02115, USA; sli40{at}partners.org

Abstract

Objectives Ovarian cancer patients with miliary disease have the lowest rates of complete surgical resection and poorest survival. Adjunct surgical techniques may potentially increase rates of complete surgical resection. No studies have evaluated the use of these techniques in primary debulking surgery for ovarian cancer patients with miliary disease. The aim of this study was to examine the use of adjunct surgical techniques during primary debulking surgery for patients with advanced epithelial ovarian, fallopian tube, and primary peritoneal cancer with miliary disease.

Methods Medical records of patients with International Federation of Gynecology and Obstetrics (FIGO) stages IIIC–IVB epithelial ovarian, fallopian tube, or primary peritoneal cancer with miliary disease undergoing primary debulking surgery from January 2010 to December 2014 were reviewed. Adjunct surgical techniques were defined as ultrasonic surgical aspiration, argon enhanced electrocautery, thermal plasma energy, and traditional electrocautery ablation. Patients undergoing surgery with and without these devices were compared with respect to demographics, operative characteristics, postoperative complications, residual disease, progression free survival and overall survival.

Results A total of 135 patients with miliary disease underwent primary debulking surgery, of which 30 (22.2%) patients used adjunct surgical techniques. The most common devices were ultrasonic surgical aspiration (40%) and argon enhanced electrocautery (36.7%). The most common sites of use were diaphragm (63.3%), pelvic peritoneum (30%), bowel mesentery (20%), and large bowel serosa (20%). There were no differences in age, stage, primary site, histology, operative time, surgical complexity, or postoperative complications for patients operated on with or without these devices. Volume of residual disease was similar (0.1–1 cm: 60% with adjunct techniques versus 68.6% without; complete surgical resection: 16.7% with adjunct techniques versus 13.3% without; p=0.67). For patients with ≤1 cm residual disease, median progression free survival (15 versus 15 months, p=0.65) and median overall survival (40 versus 55 months, p=0.38) were also similar.

Conclusion Adjunct surgical techniques may be incorporated during primary debulking surgery for patients with advanced epithelial ovarian, fallopian tube, or primary peritoneal cancer with miliary disease; however, these do not improve the rate of optimal cytoreduction.

  • ovarian cancer
  • laparotomy
  • cystadenocarcinoma, serous
  • fallopian tube neoplasms
  • peritoneal neoplasms

https://doi.org/10.1136/ijgc-2020-001466

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    Footnotes

    • Contributors MW: conceptualization, methodology, formal analysis, and writing—review and editing. SL: data curation and writing—original draft. BM-G, AG, AR, RCS, MDC, WBG, NH, and RB: writing—review and editing. All authors approved the final manuscript.

    • Funding The authors have not declared a specific grant for this research from any funding agency in the public, commercial, or not-for-profit sectors.

    • Competing interests None declared.

    • Patient consent for publication Not required.

    • Ethics approval The study was approved by an institutional review board.

    • Provenance and peer review Not commissioned; externally peer reviewed.

    • Data availability statement Data are available upon reasonable request. Deidentified participant data and statistical analysis plans are available upon reasonable request made to the corresponding author (sli40@partners.org).