Thirty-day unplanned hospital readmission in ovarian cancer patients undergoing primary or interval cytoreductive surgery: systematic literature review.

Objectives: Thirty-day readmission rate has been proposed as metric of quality and remains an ongoing clinical concern in the primary treatment of patients with advanced-stage ovarian epithelial ovarian cancer. We conducted a review of the literature to identify rates, risk factors, and predictors for 30-day readmission in this population.

Methods: A 10-year period MEDLINE (PubMed) search of English literature studies published between January 01, 2008-January 01, 2018 was performed to identify appropriate studies for review.

Results: Thirty -day readmission rates for ovarian cancer patients undergoing primary treatment ranged from 2.5-19.3%. Neoadjuvant chemotherapy and interval cytoreductive surgery (NACT-ICS) surgery was associated with lower readmission rates, when compared to primary debulking surgery (PDS). The most frequently reported adverse events resulting in readmission include inpatient management of ileus/small bowel obstruction, wound-related complications, and thromboembolic events. Readmission predictors included the presence of other medical comorbidities, re-operation, and major complications occurring after initial hospital discharge. Some studies reported lower rates of readmission and survival in patients treated by NACT-ICS.

Conclusions: Policies and programs should be designed to measure short- and long-term outcomes in this patient population to avoid bias in assigning patients to NACT-ICS to maintain low 30-day readmission rates.