Background: Hyperthermic intraperitoneal chemotherapy (HIPEC) is routinely used in the treatment of a first ovarian cancer relapse.
Methods: This systematic review, in accordance with Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-analyses guidelines, aimed to assess the quality of scientific proof of the survival benefits of HIPEC, using Medline and Google Scholar. Qualitative analysis using the Oxford CEBM Levels of Evidence 2011 grading is reported.
Results: Of 469 articles identified, 23 were included; 15 based on series of patients treated with HIPEC without a control group, and 8 case control series of patients treated with or without HIPEC. The series without a control group showed median overall survival (OS) ranged from 23.5 to 63 months, highlighting a broad standard deviation. Considering the case control series, OS was significantly better in the HIPEC group in 5 studies, and similar in 1. The current review showed considerable heterogeneity and biases, with an Oxford Level of Evidence grading of 4 for 22 selected series and 2 for one.
Conclusions: There is no strong evidence to suggest efficacy of HIPEC in improving survival of patients treated for a first relapse of ovarian cancer due to the low quality of the data.
Keywords: disease-free survival; first relapse; hyperthermic intraperitoneal chemotherapy; ovarian cancer; progression-free survival; secondary surgery.