OBJECTIVE

The aim of the study was to determine the results of second-look laparotomy (SLL) in patients with stage III C and IV epithelial ovarian cancer and factors influencing the results.

METHODS

Medical records of seventy-five patients who underwent SLL between January 1998 and March 2003 were reviewed. The outcome of the SLL procedure and recurrence rates in SLL negative patients was evaluated. The affect of patient age, tumor stage, grade, size, histological type, presence of ascites, volume of ascites, peritoneal cytology and type of chemotherapy on SLL results were also evaluated.

RESULTS

The mean age of the patients was 52 years and mean duration of follow-up was 39 months. In this study, fifty patients received paclitaxel/platinum (six courses) and twenty-five patients received epirubicin/paclitaxel/platinum (six courses) chemotherapy. Of these 75 patients, 47 (62.7%) were SLL negative, 15 (20%) had microscopic residual disease and 13 (17.3%) had gross macroscopic disease. Recurrence was developed in twenty (42.6%) of 47 SLL negative patients. The mean time to recurrence was 14.5 months. The volume of ascites correlated positively with the probability of finding residual tumor at SLL (p<0.05). Patient age, clinical stage, histological type and grade, tumor size, presence of ascites and result of peritoneal cytology were not found to influence the outcome of SLL.

CONCLUSION

It is difficult to determine the factors influencing the outcome of SLL because of the insufficiency about the procedure. It is generally considered that SLL doesn’t contribute to survival but only gives information about the state of the disease.

Keywords: Ovarian Cancer, Second-look laparotomy, Prognostic factor