Outcomes of splenectomy during primary cytoreductive surgery in ovarian cancer

Objectives: Most splenectomies performed in ovarian cancer (OC) debulking are for disease resection; the impact of splenectomy on 30-day complication and oncologic outcomes is unclear. We aimed to determine the association of splenectomy with postoperative complications, overall survival (OS), and progression-free survival (PFS) in the setting of primary debulking surgery (PDS) for OC. Methods: We retrospectively evaluated women who underwent PDS or surgical staging for OC from 1/2003-07/2016. Perioperative variables and 30-day complications defined by ACS-NSQIP were abstracted. Among those with advanced stage (IIIC/IV) disease, complications were graded using the modified Accordion grading scale; severe was defined as grade 3 or 4. A propensity score (PS) matched cohort was evaluated to limit the effect of bias due to confounding variables between patients who did and did not have a splenectomy. The severe complication rate was compared between matched pairs using McNemar's test and time-to-event outcomes were compared using stratified Cox proportional hazards models. Results: Among 1311 patients in the cohort, 153 (11.7%) underwent splenectomy. Patients with splenectomy were more likely to have advanced stage disease (96.1 vs 60.6%), serous histology (89.5 vs 68.8%), ascites (83.0 vs 45.3%), higher median preoperative CA-125 (737 vs 388 U/mL), and residual disease (52.9 vs 31.3%), compared to patients without splenectomy (all p Download : Download high-res image (74KB) Download : Download full-size image Conclusions: We observed that splenectomy during PDS was associated with increased risk of progression and death compared to those not undergoing splenectomy but this risk was no longer observed with a PS-matched cohort. Splenectomy appears to be a marker for disease extent but does not increase the risk of progression or decreased survival in and of itself. Splenectomy was associated with a higher risk of severe postoperative complications including a 9% risk of pancreatic leak. These findings underscore the importance of preoperative surgical risk/benefit assessment and expertise in management of complications.