Ultra-radical surgery versus standard-radical surgery for the primary cytoreduction of advanced epithelial ovarian cancer; long-term tertiary center experiences.

Objective: To compare overall survival (OS) and morbidity outcomes in patients with advanced epithelial ovarian/tubal/peritoneal cancer undergoing standard-radical (SR) and ultra-radical (UR) surgical procedures based on NICE classification.

Study Design: This retrospective study analyzed data from 282 patients with 2014 FIGO stage III-IV epithelial ovarian cancer operated on between January 2006 and January 2019. The study compared OS, progression-free survival (PFS), and morbidity between SR and UR surgeries. Parameters influencing OS, including preoperative, postoperative, and post-adjuvant chemotherapy CA-125 values, surgical procedures, post-surgical residual tumor, histopathological grade, and FIGO surgical stage, were assessed.

Results: Out of 282 patients, 256 met the inclusion criteria. SR surgery was performed in 48 %, and UR surgery in 52 %. The mean preoperative CA-125 value was 1200 ± 1914.83, decreasing to 240.32 ± 373.87 postoperatively. The mean follow-up period was 63.01 ± 47.56 months. UR surgery correlated with significantly higher postoperative complications (p < 0.001), histopathological grade (p = 0.023), FIGO stage (p < 0.001), three-year death rates, and overall mortality rates (p = 0.035). FIGO stage and total metastatic lymph nodes emerged as independent prognostic factors for overall and PFS.

Conclusion: In the treatment of epithelial ovarian cancer, evaluating the extent of the tumor before the surgery and showing maximal effort to minimize the residual tumor volume instead of applying UR procedures as the first choice seems to be the most important factor that can affect survival.