title: Surgical management of bowel obstruction in advanced ovarian carcinoma.
abstract: The surgical management of 118 instances of bowel obstruction associated with advanced ovarian cancer in 98 patients is reviewed. In 12% of the treatment episodes, patients were found to have inoperable disease at laparotomy. Surgical correction of the intestinal obstruction was associated with an operative mortality of 12%. In 35% of the cases, patients did not benefit from surgical treatment, as they died within 8 weeks of the operation. Patients' age, nutritional status, tumor spread, presence of ascites, and the type and amount of prior chemotherapy and/or radiation therapy correlate well with the patients' prognosis. A simple prognostic index based upon these 6 criteria is suggested as a means of predicting the possible benefit from surgical intervention.
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007415:Intestinal Obstruction / Q000209:etiology / Q000401:mortality / Q000601:surgery*; D008875:Middle Aged; D010051:Ovarian Neoplasms / Q000150:complications* / Q000601:surgery; D011183:Postoperative Complications