ABSTRACT
Cytoreduction of all visible disease for patients with advanced stage epithelial ovarian cancer before adjuvant chemotherapy is associated with maximum survival and is well documented to increase 5-year and even 10-year survival when compared to patients left with visible disease measuring 5 mm to 1 cm, and even more so those left with residual disease measuring more than 1 centimeter. Those patients in this last group benefit little from surgery, except for palliative relief of specific symptoms. However, until recently there was controversy about the relative influences of tumor biology and surgical effort on survival, and there may still remain some controversy.
