Advanced ovarian carcinoma, innovative surgery at the Federico II University of Naples

A complex and innovative surgery enabled a woman with advanced ovarian cancer to undergo radical treatment and be able to achieve a significant reduction in the risk of recurrence. This is the story of Claudia (fictitious name to protect privacy) who had been admitted to the Federico II University Hospital in Naples with the diagnosis of advanced ovarian carcinoma. The patient, following a lengthy clinical study by the Gynecologic Multidisciplinary Oncology Group coordinated by Professor Carmine De Angelis, and after appropriate medical treatment, was deemed eligible to undergo an innovative cytoreduction surgery combined with intraperitoneal hyperthermia chemo. But let's see what it is all about. "Simplifying," explains Professor Giuseppe Bifulco, Director of the UOC of Gynecology and Obstetrics at the Federico II University, "we can say that this procedure, together with radical surgery, is one of the most innovative therapeutic paths in the treatment of ovarian cancer. During the surgery, in fact, the patient was treated with intraperitoneal chemotherapy drugs, meaning that the cancer cells thus came into direct contact with the cytotoxic agent, and in this way it is possible to minimize the risk of recurrence."

The long and complex surgery (as many as 6 hours in the operating room) was successfully performed at the DAI Materno Infantile, involved collaboration between the team of Gynecologic Oncologic Surgery of Professor Bifulco and that of Colorectal Surgery coordinated by Professor Gaetano Luglio (DAI of General Surgery, Transplantation and Gastroenterology, directed by Professor Giovanni De Palma). The surgery ended with an uncomplicated course, and the patient was discharged in excellent general clinical condition.

"These innovative surgical procedures are the result of the collaboration between the different operating units," explains General Director Giuseppe Longo, "but above all they are possible thanks to the very close link that has always tied the care component to that of university research. A union that allows our Company to promote surgical innovation and cutting-edge treatments for the management of advanced oncological pathologies."