Current surgical management of ovarian cancer.

Overview

Surgical management of ovarian cancer requires excellent judgment and mastery of a wide array of procedures. Involvement of a gynecologic oncologist improves outcomes. Staging of apparent stage I disease is important. Minimally invasive techniques provide advantages. Primary debulking surgery provides the best long-term survival of any strategy in advanced ovarian cancer. Aggressive surgical paradigms have the greatest success. Further cytoreductive surgery may be appropriate. Most relapsed patients require management of bowel obstruction at some point. Palliative intervention can enhance quality of life. Surgical correction may extend survival. For end-stage patients with progressive disease, the treating gynecologic oncologist must manage expectations.