title: Splenectomy and surgical cytoreduction in epithelial ovarian cancer: a review.
abstract: Surgical cytoreduction and platinum/taxane combination chemotherapy are the mainstay for the treatment of epithelial ovarian cancer patients. In order to minimise the tumour mass before chemotherapy, cytoreductive surgery is usually performed first. Currently, a splenectomy is included as part of surgical cytoreduction in epithelial ovarian cancer, but it is rarely performed. A splenectomy is also performed as part of secondary cytoreduction surgery. Although there are many reports on surgical techniques, safety and associated clinical outcomes of a splenectomy as a standard adjunct of ovarian cytoreductive surgery, most evidence is from case(s) reports, with only a few studies. Thus, we conducted a review of the literature on this unusual procedure in the context of primary and secondary cytoreduction of epithelial ovarian cancer to assess the published evidence for its efficacy and safety.
authors.affiliation: Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Faculty of Medicine, Prince of Songkla University, Hat Yai, Songkhla, Thailand. hjitti@medicine.psu.ac.th
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Hanprasertpong
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Fujiwara
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008875:Middle Aged; D009364:Neoplasm Recurrence, Local / Q000601:surgery; D010051:Ovarian Neoplasms / Q000473:pathology / Q000601:surgery*; D013156:Splenectomy / Q000009:adverse effects; D013160:Splenic Neoplasms / Q000556:secondary*