Surgical management of ovarian cancer: Trends in clinical practice

Surgery has evolved as a mainstay of the management of ovarian cancer since evidence of the major benefit of complete surgery, i.e. achieving complete resection of the disease without visible macroscopic residue in a comprehensively explored abdominal cavity, has been made available. This objective may be difficult to complete in case of advanced ovarian cancer, as it requires the use of advanced techniques of peritoneal and visceral surgery, in the setting of adapted perioperative care, generally in institutions where the caseload is sufficient to ensure an appropriate surgical experience, and where specifically trained surgeons are available. In this paper using the data from the French national database PMSI, evidence of an evolution of the proportion of patients managed in centers where more than 20 patients a year are operated is shown. However, the recommendations of the governmental Plans Cancers are far from universally implemented.