Secondary surgical cytoreduction followed by chemotherapy did not extend OS compared with chemotherapy alone among women with platinum-sensitive, recurrent epithelial ovarian cancer, according to results of the randomized phase 3 GOG-0213 study published in The New England Journal of Medicine.

“It has been an unproven expectation that secondary cytoreduction surgery for certain patients is beneficial, which was predominantly a direct extension from our observations in the front-line setting,” Robert L. Coleman, MD, physician in the department of gynecologic oncology and reproductive medicine at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, said during an interview with HemOnc Today. “Our thought was that surgery may play a role in the setting of recurrent disease because patients who are newly diagnosed are also essentially platinum-sensitive, and it is dogma that patients experience benefit from surgery.”