A second thought on second look laparotomy

Amiram Bar‐Am*, Felix Kovner, Joseph B. Lessing, Moshe Inbar, Samario Chaitchik, Foad Azem, Steven H. Brenner, M. Reuben Peyser

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

13 Scopus citations

Abstract

Between 1982 and 1987, 43 patients with epithelial ovarian carcinoma, identified as International Federation of Gynaecology and Obstetrics Stages I‐IV, underwent second‐look laparotomy as a part of their treatment protocol. Twenty‐nine patients (67%) had no evidence of residual disease, five (11.6%) had residual disease 1 cm, and nine patients (20%) had residual disease 1 cm at re‐exploration. Persistent disease at the second operation was positively correlated with the initial clinical stage, and negatively correlated with the extent of the original cytoreductive surgery. Fifteen of 29 patients with negative findings (52%) developed recurrent disease within two years. All recurrences were limited to the abdominal cavity only. Three and five years survival, for the patients with negative findings, was 62% and 48% respectively. No documented benefit to the patients could be demonstrated by adopting second‐look laparotomy as a routine procedure in the management of patients with epithelial ovarian carcinoma. In view of our data, as well as that of others, such operations cannot be considered a valuable routine procedure. At this point, second‐look laparotomy may have a role in evaluating the efficacy of a post‐surgical new chemotherapy treatment regimen. 1993 Acta Obstet Gynecol Scand

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)386-390
Number of pages5
JournalActa Obstetricia et Gynecologica Scandinavica
Volume72
Issue number5
DOIs
StatePublished - Jul 1993

Keywords

  • ovarian carcinoma
  • second‐look laparotomy

Fingerprint

Dive into the research topics of 'A second thought on second look laparotomy'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.

Cite this