title: The role of second-look laparotomy in treatment of epithelial ovarian cancer.
abstract: Forty-two patients underwent a second-look laparotomy to assess response to systemic chemotherapy for epithelial ovarian cancer. In 20 cases the operation showed no histologic evidence of disease. None of these cases received additional treatment at the time of negative second-look laparotomy. There has only been one recurrence noted in an average follow-up interval of 38.5 months. The remaining 22 cases did have residual carcinoma and 16 have developed progressive carcinoma despite secondary treatment. We found second-look laparotomy to be a safe and reliable assessment tool. However, we could not demonstrate a medical benefit from the procedure.
mesh_terms: D000971:Antineoplastic Combined Chemotherapy Protocols / Q000627:therapeutic use; D002277:Carcinoma / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000473:pathology / Q000601:surgery*; D003131:Combined Modality Therapy; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006801:Humans; D007813:Laparotomy; D008875:Middle Aged; D009367:Neoplasm Staging; D010051:Ovarian Neoplasms / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000473:pathology / Q000601:surgery*; D010533:Peritoneal Lavage; D012086:Reoperation