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. 1984 Aug;50(2):185–191. doi: 10.1038/bjc.1984.161

Second look laparotomy in the management of epithelial cell carcinoma of the ovary.

G M Mead, C J Williams, F R MacBeth, I E Boyd, J M Whitehouse
PMCID: PMC1976862  PMID: 6466536

Abstract

Case histories from 20 patients undergoing postchemotherapy "second look" laparotomy for metastatic epithelial cell carcinoma of the ovary were reviewed in an attempt to evaluate the usefulness of this procedure and its likely impact on patient survival. The patient population comprised 18 patients treated with a combination of cisplatin, adriamycin and cyclophosphamide (PACe) and 2 patients treated with chlorambucil. The findings at second look were often predictable, and related to the adequacy of initial surgery. Complete tumour regression identified a group of patients with a relatively good prognosis. However in most patients residual tumour was found which rarely proved resectable. Second line chemotherapy was poorly tolerated, and appeared to have little impact on the disease particularly after combination chemotherapy had been used initially. There was little evidence that second look surgery itself positively contributed to survival. This procedure and its timing should be regarded as experimental and a suitable subject for randomised clinical trials.

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Selected References

These references are in PubMed. This may not be the complete list of references from this article.

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