Ascites volume at the time of primary debulking and overall survival of patients with advanced epithelial ovarian cancer.

OBJECTIVES

To investigate the impact of malignant ascites volume on the outcomes of patients with advanced epithelial ovarian carcinoma who undergo primary debulking surgery.

METHODS

Patients diagnosed with stage III-IV epithelial ovarian carcinoma and bulky intra-abdominal (TIIIC) disease between 2010 and 2015, who underwent primary debulking surgery followed by multi-agent chemotherapy and known status of residual disease, were drawn from the National Cancer Database. Based on available information, the presence and volume of malignant ascites was categorized as absent, low (<980 mL), and high (980 mL) volume. Median overall survival was determined from Kaplan-Meier curves and compared with the log rank test. A multivariate Cox model was constructed to control for confounders.

RESULTS

2493 patients were identified; 31.9% (n=795) had no ascites, 40.2% (n=1001) had low, and 28% (n=697) had high volume malignant ascites. Rate of complete gross resection was higher for patients with no ascites (65.9%) compared with those with low (35.6%) and high (23%) volume ascites (p<0.001). After controlling for stage, histology, grade, age, and comorbidities, compared with those with no ascites, patients with low (odds ratio (OR) 3.49, 95% confidence intervals (CI) 2.89 to 4.26) and high (OR 6.40, 95% CI 5.07 to 8.06) volume ascites were more likely to have gross residual disease. For patients who achieved complete gross resection after controlling for confounders compared with patients with no ascites, those with low (hazard ratio (HR) 1.37, 95% CI 1.09 to 1.72) and high volume ascites (HR 1.94, 95% CI 1.47 to 2.55) had worse overall survival. Similarly, patients with low volume ascites had better survival compared with those with high volume ascites (HR 0.71 95% CI 0.54 to 0.93).

CONCLUSIONS

The presence and volume of malignant ascites at the time of primary debulking surgery was associated with the likelihood of achieving a complete gross resection and worse overall survival.