The Effect of Debulking Surgery after Induction Chemotherapy on the Prognosis in Advanced Epithelial Ovarian Cancer

Abstract

The value of cytoreductive surgery in the management of ovarian cancer has been debated for years. The reasons for cytoreductive surgery are manifold. Large tumors with relatively poor central blood supplies and the areas with the lowest growth rates are both rather insensitive to cytotoxic drugs.1 In better-perfused small, residual tumors, the growth rate and the diffusion of chemotherapeutic agents are higher — factors that are apt to increase the efficacy of chemotherapy. The removal of large tumors also reduces the likelihood that drug-resistant clones will appear as a result of spontaneous mutations.2 Moreover, small tumors require fewer cycles of . . .