Surgery due to mechanical bowel obstruction in relapsed ovarian cancer: clinical and surgical results of a bicentric analysis of 87 patients

INTRODUCTION: Mechanical bowel obstruction is a frequent acute and life-threatening event in relapsed ovarian cancer. Salvage surgery after failure of all conservative approaches, resulting in short bowel syndrome (SBS) constitutes a therapeutic dilemma. Our aim was to evaluate patients’ surgical and clinical outcome in these highly palliative situations. Previous, limited, data reported a high morbidity and mortality. However, recent surgical and therapeutical improvements in relapsed ovarian cancer (ROC) offer better identification of patients who might benefit from surgery in an effort to extend the window of opportunity to subsequently offer these patients novel systemic therapeutic approaches. MATERIAL AND METHODS: All subsequent ROC patients between 2012 and 2017 with acute mechanical bowel obstruction who underwent salvage extraperitoneal en bloc intestinal resection were retrospectively identified. Data were collected from two ESGO certified Ovarian Cancer Centers of Excellence (Charité Berlin and Imperial College London) and systematically evaluated regarding surgical and clinical outcomes. RESULTS: Overall, 87 ROC patients were included in the analysis (median age 56 years, range 24–88), 47% were platinum resistant. High grade serous was the most common histology (76%) while most of the patients (67%) had at least two previous lines of treatment. Mean observed OS was 7.8 months. After salvage surgery, 46% of the patients had a residual small bowel length < 180 cm and 18% > 180 cm resulting in 41% in need of total parental nutrition. In 80% of the patients a permanent stoma was necessary. 30d morbidity and mortality was 74% and 10%, respectively. More than half of the patients were able to receive further courses of chemotherapy after surgery. DISCUSSION: Salvage surgery for bowel obstruction in ROC patients needs careful consideration and identification of optimal surgical candidates to have the maximal therapeutic benefit. Despite the challenging morbidity profile, most patients managed to proceed to subsequent novel and conventional systemic treatment and so have their window of therapeutic opportunity extended.