Secondary Surgery Versus Chemotherapy for Recurrent Ovarian Cancer

Objective: The best course of treatment for recurrent ovarian cancer is uncertain. We sought to determine whether secondary cytoreductive surgery for first recurrence of ovarian cancer improves overall survival compared with other treatments. Materials and Methods: We assessed survival using Surveillance, Epidemiology and End Results-Medicare data for advanced stage ovarian cancer cases diagnosed from January 1, 1997 to December 31, 2007 with survival data through 2010 using multinomial propensity weighted finite mixture survival regression models to distinguish true from misclassified recurrences. Of 35,995 women ages 66 years and older with ovarian cancer, 3439 underwent optimal primary debulking surgery with 6 cycles of chemotherapy; 2038 experienced a remission. Results: One thousand six hundred thirty-five of 2038 (80%) women received treatment for recurrence of whom 72% were treated with chemotherapy only, 16% with surgery and chemotherapy and 12% received hospice care. Median survival of women treated with chemotherapy alone, surgery and chemotherapy, or hospice care was 4.1, 5.4, and 2.2 years, respectively (P

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