Role of Neoadjuvant Chemotherapy in the Management of Advanced Ovarian Cancer

Objective: To analyze efficacy of neoadjuvant chemotherapy for advanced ovarian cancer. Materials and
Methods: A total of 107 patients with advanced ovarian cancer undergoing cytoreductive surgery were dividedinto a neoadjuvant chemotherapy group (n=61) and a primary debulking group (n=46) and retrospectivelyanalyzed. Platinum-based adjuvant chemotherapy was applied to both groups after cytoreductive surgery andeoverall and progression-free survival times were calculated.
Results: No significant difference was observed induration of hospitalization (20.8±6.1 vs. 20.2±5.4 days, p>0.05). The operation time of neoadjuvant chemotherapygroup was shorter than the initial surgery group (3.1±0.7 vs. 3.4±0.8 h, p<0.05). There were no significantdifferences in median overall survival time between neoadjuvant chemotherapy group and surgery group (42 vs.55 months, p>0.05). Similarly, there was no difference in median progression-free survival between neoadjuvantchemotherapy group and surgery group (16 vs. 17 months, p>0.05). The surgical residual tumor size demonstratedno significant difference between initial surgery and neoadjuvant chemotherapy groups (p>0.05). Multivariateanalysis showed that more than 3 cycles of regimen with neoadjuvant chemotherapy was associated with moreresistance to chemotherapy compared with patients without receiving neoadjuvant chemotherapy (OR: 5.962,95%CI: 1.184-30.030, p<0.05).
Conclusions:Neoadjuvant chemotherapy can shorten the operation time. However,it does not improve survival rates of advanced ovarian cancer patients.