Prognostic SIGNIFICANCE of Cytoreductive Therapy of Ovarian Cancer – eastern Croatia experience

The aim of this retrospective study was to present the impact of successful optimal cytoreductive therapy on the overall prognosis of ovarian cancer treatment. Several factors were analyzed, including clinical (stage, age and parity), histopathologic/cytological (histologic type and grade of tumors, cytological findings of ascites or peritoneal washout), and therapeutic (surgery performed with the degree of cytoreduction, adjuvant chemotherapy and response to therapy). The study included 126 patients treated during a 5-year period at the Department of Gynecology and Obstetrics, Osijek University Hospital Centre in Osijek. Patient age ranged from 29 to 82, total 5-year survival was 55.5% and median survival was 76.2 months. Optimal cytoreduction (residual tumor <1 cm) was performed in 49.2% of patients. On data analysis, the life chart method, χ(2)-test and Cox regression analysis were used. The level of significance was set at p<0.05. Parity, histologic tumor grade, presence of malignant cells in ascites and peritoneal washout, as well as clinical stage yielded statistical significance on univariate analysis. Cytoreductive ovarian cancer therapy turned out to be a significant prognostic factor and on multivariate analysis proven to be an independent prognostic factor. Optimal cytoreduction, besides direct effect on survival, improved the quality of therapeutic response of the tumor to chemotherapy.