Time to chemotherapy in ovarian cancer: Compliance with ovarian cancer quality indicators at a National Cancer Institute-designated Comprehensive Cancer Center.

OBJECTIVE

To assess compliance with, and outcomes related to, the Society of Gynecologic Oncology quality measure in ovarian cancer to administer chemotherapy within 42 days of cytoreductive surgery in patients with epithelial ovarian/fallopian tube/peritoneal cancer.

METHODS

Institutional ovarian cancer database was evaluated for compliance with the quality measure to administer chemotherapy within 42 days of cytoreductive surgery. The influence of chemotherapy timing on the risk of death was evaluated, and factors related to the timing of chemotherapy after surgery was assessed.

RESULTS

Of 668 patients with epithelial ovarian/fallopian tube/peritoneal cancer who underwent surgical treatment for their disease (primary or interval), 635 met criteria for administration of adjuvant chemotherapy (with stages IA/IB, grade 2 or 3 disease; stage IC or more advanced stage disease). Compliance to administer chemotherapy within 42 days was 59.1%. The adjusted risk of death was not strongly associated with time to chemotherapy within 42 days (aHR: 0.80; 0.61, 1.05) and this did not differ by primary or interval debulking surgery.

CONCLUSIONS

In this prospectively maintained database, 59.1% of patients received chemotherapy within 42 days of surgery. The time to chemotherapy interval of within 42 days was not strongly associated with improved survival, particularly when age, stage of disease, insurance enrollment and surgical characteristics were taken into account. Further, the relationship between time to chemotherapy interval of within 42 days and survival did not vary by patients who received primary versus interval debulking surgery or had no residual disease.