Background/aim: During ovarian cancer (OC) debulking surgery, the surgeon can examine the peritoneal cavity for malignant cancer cells with peritoneal washing (PW) cytology. The goal of this study was to examine the significance of peritoneal washing as a prognostic indicator for ovarian cancer patients.
Patients and methods: Information considering the prognostic factors of OC and their impact in PW's result was collected, compared, and combined.
Results: Omental metastasis, tumor type, tumor invasion, tumor size, tumor grade/ stage, tumor's cytoreduction, and recurrence affect both the peritoneal washing result and the patient's prognosis. The correlation that most of the above factors have with a positive PW and dismal prognosis, led us to the assumption that PW has a significance as a prognostic indicator.
Conclusion: The significance of PW as a prognostic indicator remains an assumption.
Keywords: Ovarian cancer; debulking surgery; peritoneal metastasis; peritoneal washing.
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