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 divided into a neoadjuvant chemotherapy group (n=61) and a primary debulking group (n=46) and retrospectively analyzed. Platinum-based adjuvant chemotherapy was applied to both groups after cytoreductive surgery ande overall and progression-free survival times were calculated. Results: No significant difference was observed in duration of hospitalization ($20.8{\pm}6.1$ vs. $20.2{\pm}5.4$ days, p>0.05). The operation time of neoadjuvant chemotherapy group was shorter than the initial surgery group ($3.1{\pm}0.7$ vs. $3.4{\pm}0.8$ h, p<0.05). There were no significant differences 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 neoadjuvant chemotherapy group and surgery group (16 vs. 17 months, p>0.05). The surgical residual tumor size demonstrated no significant difference between initial surgery and neoadjuvant chemotherapy groups (p>0.05). Multivariate analysis showed that more than 3 cycles of regimen with neoadjuvant chemotherapy was associated with more resistance 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.