Experience with PlasmaJet™ in debulking surgery in 87 patients with advanced-stage ovarian cancer.

OBJECTIVE

The aim was to evaluate the effectiveness and safety of PlasmaJet™ in cytoreductive surgery in patients with advanced-stage ovarian cancer.

METHODS

All patients between September 2013 and January 2018 undergoing surgical cytoreduction for advanced-stage ovarian cancer with the help of PlasmaJet™ were identified and analyzed retrospectively.

RESULTS

Eighty-seven patients diagnosed with advanced-stage ovarian cancer underwent surgery with PlasmaJet™. Primary debulking surgery was performed in 15 cases. Fifty-seven patients underwent interval debulking after neoadjuvant chemotherapy. Secondary and tertiary debulking was done in, respectively, 11 and three patients, and one patient underwent quaternary debulking using PlasmaJet™. In all 87 patients but one, complete resection of all macroscopic disease was obtained. PlasmaJet™ was used to remove carcinomatosis on the peritoneum, bowel serosa, intestinal mesentery, and lesions in the upper abdomen (diaphragm and liver surface). No damage to the bladder or ureter was noted in relation to the use of PlasmaJet™. Three patients developed a bowel leakage postoperatively. In one of these patients, PlasmaJet™ was used to treat tumoral implants in the affected region.

CONCLUSIONS

Our series suggests that the use of PlasmaJet™ is efficient and safe in obtaining complete resection of all macroscopic tumoral lesions in advanced-stage ovarian cancer.